ON COLLECTIONS
On Kawara made about 2700 Date Paintings in his lifetime (I nearly went blind counting the dark-coloured dots on two 100-year calendars). Approximately three-quarters of them are still owned by One Million Years Foundation, On Kawara's estate. The paintings are in all likelihood kept in storage in New York, some/most/all at 140 Greene Street, Manhattan, and this collection will be constantly raided by curators entrusted to put on new shows of On Kawara's work. At least it will be now that On Kawara's self-imposed, ten-year moratorium on large exhibitions of his work following his death has come to an end.
Of the one quarter not owned by One Million Years Foundation, there are three especially significant collections held at institutions that are accessible to the public. Frankfurt MMK (Germany), Dia Foundation (upstate New York ) and Glenstone (near Washington D.C.) The collections were put together by different people for dissimilar reasons, and so although on a formal level the collections are remarkably similar - each collection includes a Date for at least every year that On Kawara painted from 1966 until 2000 - the differences between the collections are striking.
Can I make a readable essay out of this? I believe so. A slow-burner until suddenly it bursts into flames. That's the plan, anyway.
Actually, the new plan is that I make three essays out of it: Frankfurt, Dia Foundation and Glenstone. Starting with the former.
