SIZE 'H': outro
I'm trying to see clearly those ten size 'H' Dates as they were presented at Dallas Museum of Art in 2008:
Three extraordinary Moon days and seven ordinary days of the week.
But the process of getting to that end-point was complicated and maybe this is the way to see the ten:
Being three Moon days, four days of the week, and three especially hopeful days.
(It's like a hand of Mah Jong. A game I've never played but at which On Kawara was apparently a master. Nobu Fukui told me that On Kawara was by far the best player in their group. How could he not have been?)
But that 3:4:3 can only be appreciated if an 11th day is invoked. A day that was planned, meticulously painted, but was then lost. A day when the clocks were turned back in the artist's adopted country.
Imagine growing up in Japan where the sun sets at 7pm in the middle of summer. The moon would have had a special significance. Lighting the way for young and old as they made their way from point A to point B along country lane or city street.
Imagine being a teenager in Japan when America H-bombed it into submission and, a few years later, imposed a 'daylight saving time' which went against nature and tradition.
Imagine emigrating from Japan to America and living in New York when the Apollo missions led to astronauts walking on that same moon that had so mysteriously lit the way during childhood evenings.
Imagine, as the decades went by, America and Japan recognising Earth Day, signing peace treaties, and, finally, their leaders meeting for a handshake in 1987, one thousand, nine hundred and eighty seven years after the alleged crucifixion of Christ.
Imagine how something that had started so badly could turn out so well.
On Kawara: keeping it about consciousness and morality. On Kawara: keeping it humble. On Kawara: keeping it to himself.
One day I would like to travel to Hiroshima and, after a focussed visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art, pay tribute to the moon. In the meantime, I sit at my desk listening to music…
"Never no turning back. Never never no."
