One Million Years (Past) and (Future), 2004

On Kawara of Japan was a conceptual artist best known for his simple but elegant depictions of the passage of time in space and life. His paintings, drawings, books, and performances reflected his humble meditations on consciousness and the human existence. The Conceptual Art movement of which he was part emerged worldwide in the 1960's and was characterized by artists who divested their works of personal subjectivity in favor of pure information and conceptual ideas. A self-taught intellectual, Kawara first gained popularity in Tokyo in the 1950's for his dark, postwar renderings. He began traveling around the world in the 60's and spent notable time in New York City studying new art styles and honing his artistic voice. Likewise, his art has been exhibited internationally over the years and multiple times in New York. His epic series One Million Years, which Kawara dedicated to every person who has ever lived and who ever will live, was written over the span of 20 years. It consists of two volumes, Past and Future, that record every single year for two million years (nearly a million into the past and slightly over a million into the future). This 2,012 page work has been presented by speakers and recorded at various art shows. Kawara's most notable work is his Today series, or date paintings, which he began painting in New York City in 1966. Each day he recorded the date on a new canvas in nearly typeface-perfect lettering. The language and grammar of the date depended upon the country in which he created it, and if he did not finish the painting on that day, he destroyed it. He continued this series until his death in 2014.