Enclosed within a claustrophobically tight space, the figure of Thinking Man appears utterly paralyzed with fear; his gaunt, naked, and distorted body holding him transfixed to the spot. The figure is thus emblematic of the wider trauma gripping Japan during the s, in which, after the total destruction of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by atomic bombs, and unconditional surrender of Japan at the end of the war in the Pacific, the country had to contend with both the large-scale occupation by Allied forces and the imminent onset of another war in neighboring Korea.
Unlike many of his peers, however, On Kawara does not address these horrors directly in his work, but rather grapples with the inability of both the artist and the nation to reconcile these new events with the trauma of the end of the previous war.
On Kawara was a conceptual artist whose paintings, drawings, postcards, books, and recordings were driven by his preoccupation with time as a measurement of human existence.
His early paintings were shown at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in His first trip outside Japan in initiated his lifelong penchant for traveling. One Million Years , his multivolume work about the passage and marking of time, has been performed as a reading and also recorded.
Sculpture garden We cannot guarantee the presence of all our artworks; some may be out on loan. Discover the themes related to the work. Date of conception : Dimensions : H. Materials : Bronze. Inventory number : S. Resources Iconography The Thinker zip, Close tickets.
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