Karin Sander, guest: On Kawara
05.03.2011 – 16.04.2011
Solo Exhibition
Berlin, Germany
Mailed Paintings - Without prior manipulation the primed store-bought canvases were mailed unwrapped to various locations. Their final destination until now is the gallery. Along the way their unprotected surfaces were covered by marks that visually transcribe the distance they traveled. The Mailed Paintings absorb the partina of their postal route. The monochromatic white surfaces act as self-writing diaries that record the journey of the work. The collected patina exaggerates and mirrors the effect of the passage of time on the surface of the painting and emphasis on the environment of the exhibition and the circumstances surrounding it. Thereby the artwork is constantly in the mode of being exhibited.
As our Guest: On Kawara (*1932)
Today Series - Rendered in simple white typography and in the spelling manner of the country where On Kawara finds himself travelling, the artist paints on a dark monochrome background the date that the work was created. The artist is always absent, only his works of art record his existence.
I Am Still Alive – From afar, On Kawara periodically sends these words through telegram to his friends. On his journeys the artist transcribes the instant of a frozen time-frame in his life through aesthetic objects. They may be read as the evidence of his own existence which abstract autobiographical details.
With loans from a German private collection (courtesy Konrad Fischer Galerie) and an Icelandic private collection.