On Kawara
Today series: 1. May 1982
Text verso: «In Negotintin today was born
Marko Stojanovic, the artist»
Liquitex on canvas, 26x33 cm
Private collection


«I am frequently asked to explain how I new that exactly today, in such a remote and small place, this important man was born. I just say – the skies. Three stars showed me the way. Then I checked the data on the Internet and they turned out to be true. That is how, without a day of delay, exactly on 1st May 1982, I did this painting. It made a step forward in my choice of the central event I am dedicating a painting to. In the multitude of paintings dealing with political events, this one was bound to happen, dealing with just one man, a newly born artist!»
On Kawara – an interview for the New York Times on May 4th, 1982.

HERITAGE
How did I obtain the painting by On Kawara? As you already know I come from a pretty average family which has given generations of laborers. I have no inherited values or manners. The honesty and righteousness, I have. Yet, we have also risen. The next generation will have something to inherit - the painting by On Kawara.
By a lucky stroke of fate, one summer, by the end of May as I seem to recall, I was visiting my great friend in Milan. He was studying the scenography there at the Brera University. Pera. However, I walked a lot. I went around the city alone, getting to know it and the city let me into its channels easily. The streets. Anyway, I remember it was a Saturday, my friend was on his way to the Academy so we walked together. Nice weather, sun and all, girls and boys. Monumental facades. If we had been anywhere else I would have been certain it was neoclassicism. But here, it was real renaissance or baroque. These are some really massive and mass columns and male bodies holding them. Even there, some people live. We were in a narrow street, quiet but the sound of people talking was getting louder… And when it reached the highest level till then, we were right below a balcony of the flat where a husband and a wife were having a quarrel, when right before my feet, on the ground, a small cute On Kawara’s painting landed. I crouched down, picked it up, and said – run! We ran, and it was really hot so Bratislav unbuttoned his white shirt liberating his long metal pendant which started clanking. When through a maze of small streets, we finally got to the Piaca de Venecia, I looked at the painting. It was really an On Kawara original. Due to its size and modern materials, I guess, it was left unscratched. It was a completely incredible event. I contemplated inquiring about who those people were, about the what had happened and how, but better leave it to the new generations to try and find out the painting’s path or simply imagine it. I have done my part of the job. And I am eager to visit my friend again. Perhaps this time there is an Italian master such as Fontana waiting for me, or they are possibly valued more, even during lively discussions.
According to the other version, I was completely baffled when I noticed the painting sticking out a garbage can while I was taking a long walk through the small and quiet streets of Milan on an awfully hot day. It was greatly damaged. I took it, put it on a new blind-frame and restored it a bit. And now it completely works again!
Novi Sad, March 2004.

Art of the 20th Century, Tashen
The Book on 20th Cetury Art,
open on page 358

The 1st May 1982 Project consists of five objects, each bearing a singular symbolism, as well as two texts written by Stojanovic. The first two objects, positioned one above the other, are a false-original of the painting by Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara exhibited in a glass cubicle, protected from the climate changes as well as from people, and a book (Art of the 20th Century, Tashen) left open on page 358, also exhibited in a glass cabinet.
On Kawara takes the date of a painting’s appearance as its central motif. He paints it for years, in white letters, with the same font, centrally composed on the black background on the front side of the painting! On its back, the usual place for the date and signature, he writes on/pastes newspapers containing the news which marked that day in the world (as television news, for example “Today, the Chinese communists carried out nuclear arms testing”.) Provoked by the fact he never had the opportunity to celebrate his birthday on the exact date, because of the holiday everyone spends on a picnic, Stojanovic started thinking about that in a different way. No one goes to school or work because it is his birthday, because it is a holiday. Later he came across this Japanese artist and started a dialogue with him. Twenty-three years later he made a fake painting, absolutely identical in dimension (33x26cm), on the same kind of canvas (roughly woven canvas), and with absolutely identical font to make the fake piece as convincing as possible, with the date written on it MAY 1st, 1982 - Marko’s day of birth. On the back of the painting, there is the text saying “In Negotin, today was born Marko Stojanovic, the artist.” The painting is kept in a glass cubicle emphasizing the authenticity and value of the work. In this way he heralded himself, his own arrival, his work for the 21st century, through the loud sound of the bell belonging to the famous conceptualist. Through Kawara’s interview, also a part of this project, everything is spiced up with a biblical motif: three wise men, stars showing the way, as well as a paraphrase of the great birth from which the time is measured. The book which introduced On Kawara to Stojanovic could not be left aside. On page 358 there is a reproduction of a painting by the Japanese artist. Relatively original page (printed in thousand copies) was replaced by a new identical one (the quality of paper, layout of the reproductions and the text) which instead of the painting JUNE 1st, 1976 shows the new painting MAY 1st, 1982 with a corresponding legend next to it. The very act, elevating this copy of the book onto the level of a work of art, has set it aside from the thousand originals (a kind of readymade), has a meaning of the first mention of the name of Marko Stojanovic in the official history of art. An announcement, a beginning of a career, launching him from the late 20th to the 21st century!
Two objects continuing the exhibit are the works which appeared on the basis of playing with the fonts and materials. The date stays the same, the same size as Kawara’s painting. It is a black board on which plastic funeral letters are nailed in, reading as 1st May 1982. Stojanovic’s date of birth is written here in old Cyrillic used for tombstones and crosses. It represents the first half of his cross, his beginning at the end. On an identical board, there are birthday candles which also show the date 1st May 1982. They show the date of the beginning of Marko Stojanovic in a completely different light, without the heavy, morbid side of the first piece, cheerfully alluding to many birthday cakes to be made for many years on that day. Perhaps Stojanovic’s mother was making a cake for the 1st of May celebration on that day. Three Eggs for Easter 2005 is a work made for an exhibition at the Cultural Centre Tocka in Skopje. The exhibition was opened on the 1st May 2005 on Marko Stojanovic’s 23rd birthday. But Easter as well. Three events in one day. Three Eggs in one work. The visitors were given stickers with the motif 1st May 2005 at the exhibition, which they could use to decorate their Easter eggs when they got back home.