Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono is an avant grade Japanese multimedia conceptual artist, musician  and peace activist, also of course well known for her marriage to John Lennon. Ono has challenged aesthetic boundaries since the 1960s, when she emerged in New York’s underground art scene.

Yoko Ono has challenged aesthetic boundaries since the 1960s, when she emerged in New York’s underground art scene. Early in her career, Ono was associated with Fluxus (though she never considered herself a part of the movement).

The works of John Cage and Marcel Duchamp were both highly influential to Ono’s Neo-Dada artwork, which often achieves a unique combination of humour and poignancy. 

She developed conceptual performances that explored the relationship between audience, artist, and art. In her famous Cut Piece (1964), she invited viewers to scissor away at her clothing while she sat onstage. Her ongoing Wish Tree (1993–present) instructs the public to write their dreams on pieces of paper, then affix them to a living tree.

Ono has enjoyed solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, and the Serpentine Galleries. In 2009, she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 53rd Venice Biennale. Her work has sold for up to six figures at auction.