On Kawara’s work renders the passage of time and one life within its continuum. From 1966 until his death, the artist produced thousands of works in a series called Today. In each, he painted the date (notably, without using stencils) in white on a monochromatic field. While usually not exhibited a newspaper accompanies every work to document the location and context of its execution. Kawara always began and completed these works on the date represented, and if he did not finish a painting on its date, he destroyed it. While following these self-imposed guidelines, Kawara used a set range of canvas sizes for his date paintings. Oct.
31, 1978 is one of only ten works painted at this scale, the largest used in the series.