I Got Up...
On Kawara
Japanese, 1933–2014
1970
A stamped-ink inscription on a found postcard: On Kawara’s deadpan record of the exact time he woke that day, presented as a small, bureaucratic statement on a photographed city scene.
What strikes you is the coolly mechanical stamp laid over an ordinary urban photograph — the plain, factual line of text turns a private, fleeting moment into an impersonal record set against the blurred motion of trains and city traffic.
Part of Kawara’s serial, conceptual practice that turned everyday existence into verifiable data, these postcards reframed autobiography as a distributed, bureaucratic act and pushed art to document time and presence itself.
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
324.2010.14
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
