ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

The exhibition comprises two paintings from the series OK–XA, which welcome the viewer in the gallery’s entrance room, and 300 collages from the series La hora (The Hour), displayed in the main gallery space downstairs. 

The two OK–XA paintings depict the opening and closing dates of the exhibition, in the style of the Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara, who passed away in 2014. Kawara’s method consisted of painting the date on which the work was executed in simple white lettering, set against a solid background, and famously, if he was unable to complete the painting on the day it was started, he would immediately destroy it. In contrast, ´¡²ú²¹±ô±ôí’s ‘date paintings’ were executed prior to the date they depict, and 10 years after Kawara’s death, so no matter how real they might appear, they can neither pass for originals, nor be viewed as replicas. 

So how should we categorise ´¡²ú²¹±ô±ôí’s ‘Kawaras’, these copies without originals?Baudrillard might have called them simulacra, but as the name of the series, OK–XA (short for On Kawara–Xavier ´¡²ú²¹±ô±ôí), suggests, it is perhaps more accurate to say that the paintings of both artists exist on a continuum (the two men’s initials being linked by a hyphen, a punctuation mark commonly used to either contrast values or illustrate a relationship). However we describe them, there is something profoundly touching in ´¡²ú²¹±ô±ôí’s desire to form a bond with the work of an ‘unreachable’ (in both physical and economic terms) artist such as Kawara – to experience it first hand, live with it, learn from it, and share it with friends.