Yoko Ono is a pioneering conceptual and performance artist. During the 1960’s, she emerged as a prominent figure of the New York avant-garde scene and became close to individuals such as musician John Cage, founder of the Fluxus movement George Maciunas, filmmaker Jonas Mekas, and musician John Lennon, who she would marry. The point of departure for many of Ono’s works is found in her Instructions: oral or written guidelines for viewers that offer a host of suggestions and assign a much more active role to the audience than usually expected in the art world. Many of her pieces could even be regarded as incomplete without the physical or mental participation of the viewer.

In 1964 Yoko Ono published the seminal book Grapefruit, which includes many of these instructions. The same year, she debuted her most famous work, Cut Piece, performed by Yoko Ono coming on the stage and in a sitting position, placing a pair of scissors in front of her and asking the audience to come up on the stage, one by one, and cut a portion of her clothing (anywhere they like) and take it. Ideas, rather than materials, are the main component of Ono’s work. Many of those ideas are poetic, absurd, and utopian, while others are specific and practical. Some are transformed into objects, while others remain immaterial. Her work frequently reflects the artist’s sense of humor as well as her pronounced sociocritical attitude.

Retrospectives of her work have been presented at institutions such as MoMA in New York, Toyko’s Museum of Contemporary Art, MAC Lyon, MALBA in Buenos Aires, Faurschou Foundation in Beijing, and Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Courtesy of the Guggenheim Museum