M HKA Ensembles

Print, 30 x (43 x 33 cm).

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK009083).

With the Death Masks, On Kawara already looked death in the eye at a young age.  Later – with the United States as his home base – the horrible images from his childhood seem to have prompted him to spread the message ‘I am still alive’ every day, as a sign of life force.   

Eventually it was not until the mid-nineties that the Death Masks were published under the title Thanatophanies. The images refer not only to the horror as such, but also to the genetic apocalypse that resulted: physical malformations and hereditary deviations. The series of lithographs is shown within the context of the Baroque because, according to the curator, they express the same urgency and the same reaction to violence, and reveal the universal and consistent manner in which this information repeatedly presents itself.

Text: Hans Willemse
Translations: Michael Meert