I Got Up...
On Kawara
Japanese, 1933–2014
1970
A found travel postcard stamped in ink by On Kawara to record the everyday fact of when he got up, turning a private routine into a serial art gesture.
A muted, slightly faded photograph of a monumental civic building and its empty forecourt meets you with a calm, everyday clarity, the ordered composition making the later stamped declaration feel intimate and ritualized.
Part of Kawara’s systematic serial works, this piece places simple biographical data at the center of art, exemplifying conceptual art’s preoccupation with time, documentation, and the transformation of life into an austere record.
Medium
Stamped ink on postcard
Dimensions
4 x 5 3/4" (10.2 x 14.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Seth Siegelaub Collection. Gift of Richard S. Zeisler (by exchange)
Accession
324.2010.8
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
