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"Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-1971," which runs from May 17
through Sept. 7, includes about 125 early art pieces, works on
paper, films, installations, performances and audio recordings.
It shows how in even 1962 Ono thought of art as pure
instruction, paintings that are described rather than realized,
which predates conceptual art.
"It's really good to know that everything you do is being
recognized by people, everything you do is being understood by
people and one day it is going to blossom," Ono, 82, told a
press conference following a preview of the show.
The exhibition follows the writer, peace activist and widow of
Beatle John Lennon from her days as a 27-year-old organizing
artistic events at her New York loft to exhibitions in Tokyo,
London and New York.
It concludes with her unsanctioned one-woman show at MoMA in
1971 titled "Museum of Modern (F)art."
Curator Christophe Cherix said the show was designed to let the
works speak for themselves, so each could piece could be
understood on its own and how it is connected to the others.
"We really tried to understand what were the key contributions
in the first decade of her career. We narrowed it down to the
pieces which we found most influential, which still resonate in
people's minds," he told Reuters.
In the 1964 film "Cut Piece," Ono is shown during a performance
in which people cut her clothing. Another film, shot in 1970,
shows a fly as it travels over a woman's naked body.
"Both are about being extremely vulnerable," Cherix said.
The show begins with "Apple," Ono's 1964 work showing a piece of
fruit on a Plexiglas pedestal and includes "Bag Piece," in which
two guests enter a cloth bag, instruction paintings and a new
work created for the exhibition called "To See The Sky."
Cherix said the focus is on her early career because few people
know that when she met Lennon she already was a respected
artist.
"We feel she was never given the recognition for that. In a way
her fame overshadowed the art and as a museum our role is to
bring that back," he said.
(Editing by Ted Botha)
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