Recently the work of On Kawara, the Japanese conceptual artist, came to my attention and immediately made an impact. His work was simple and primarily documented his existence in time and space with series such as “Today,” “I Got Up,” and “I Am Still Alive” among others.
“Today”: a series of paintings of the date on which each of the works was completed. The date conformed to the standard of the country where he was located at the time.
“I Got Up": a postcard was sent to acquaintances noting the time that he arose that morning and his location.
“I Am Still Alive”: a telegram was sent to friends, acquaintances, and benefactors merely stating that “I am still alive.”
“By drawing attention to the minutiae of daily existence, Kawara's work focuses our attention on the most basic elements of our experience of the world: our location on the planet, and our passage through time.” (The Art Story)
One of the main lessons I took away from his work was that by measuring his life in days, rather than by years at a time, it placed more significance on each day.
Benjamin Franklin asked himself a question every morning: “What good shall I do this day?” This reaffirms the notion that today is significant and I must use it wisely, in essence. We are alive right now, we have time before us, and we must choose what to do with that gift.
Tomorrow my time on this planet will be 12,319 days; my hope is that I will add something positive to this world or learn something beneficial or in some way make a difference.
Combining the ideals of Kawara and Franklin yields an excellent credo: I am here right now at this place—what good shall I do this day?
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