Introduction
Yoko Ono is a groundbreaking artist extending her work through the decades and we celebrate her innovative, challenging contributions to contemporary art. Her “works which include films and installations” are steeped in the themes of peace, perception, and human bonding. Her iconic works — Smile Film, Wish Tree, Eyeblink, Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting, Imagine Peace, My Mommy is Beautiful, Painting to Hammer a Nail and Cloud Piece as well as selections from Play It by Trust and Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? To Wish Piece, Half a Room, To See the Sky and Peace.
1. Smile Film
Smile Film is a touching meditation on the human face that captures just one thing— in all its reductive joy-an act as uncomplicated and as powerful as a smile — and it encapsulates so much of what Yoko Ono’s art accomplishes. The movie Salaam Bacche is surely one that makes you think around the world and about a smile, the message of a smile regardless the culture or language. Ono’s concentrated attention on one gesture for an extended period elicits a tranquil contemplation of joy and its presence within our lives.
2. Wish Tree
One of Ono’s more interactive works, the Wish Tree invites visitors to write or print their wishes on small pieces of paper and hang them from the branches of a tree. The collective hopes, dreams, and desires of humanity are distilled to become an evolving artwork. Not only does it increase in size, but it grows more wishes and thus becomes living proof of the hopes that surround it.
3. Eyeblink
On Eyeblink Ono captures another frail sparkle of human life. This spare and economical film focuses on a short span of time, the blink of an eye, which is such a fleeting moment but also holds so much. By honing in on something so fleeting, Ono points us to the transience of life as well as how much worth we can take out of a moment.
4. Ceiling Painting/Yes Painting
Image of Ceiling Painting/Yes PaintingThe conceptual work, which was famously first shown to John Lennon in 1966, is one of Ono’s most distinctive pieces. Here a ladder ascends to a magnifying glass that uncovers the word YES printed on the ceiling. It is a powerful study in positivity, and the influence of stating your intention by aiming at restrictions to find an answer on the other side.
5. Imagine Peace
One of Ono’s major themes in her work is her quest for world peace, which she symbolizes with Imagine Peace. Ongoing Series — With global harmony as the hub, variety of media forms part of this ongoing initiative. In fact, the words “Imagine Peace” are now synonymous with Ono’s lasting effect and yearning for peace and a world without war.
6. My Mommy is Beautiful
The extremely personal campaign “My Mommy is Beautiful,” a call for people to honor their mothers by posting photos, memories and messages. This work, with one story of maternal love, loss or gratitude on top of another and an infinite more still unexpressed is a wish to give all honor where it is due in becoming the tapestry that runs through the human experience.
7. Painting to Hammer a Nail
The installation, Painting to Hammer a Nail, invites viewers to hammer nails onto a wooden board. In this, the audience is forced to throw theme traditional ideas of art on end as they all take part in creating a piece. This embodies Ono’s conviction that art is a communal, shared activity in which the distinction between artist and viewer is eroded.
8. Cloud Piece
In Cloud Piece, Ono presents a poetic instruction: “Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in.” This piece is part of her “Instructions for Paintings” series, where the artwork exists in the imagination of the viewer. It exemplifies Ono’s innovative approach to art, where the act of creation is as important as the final product.
9. Play It by Trust
Photo Play It by Trust is a white chess set, meaning that traditional gameplay is impossible. Self Competitiveness and No Wars is an act to turn the tables, to question the concepts of competition/battle itself — you are invited to re-think the idea of the game as a whole and what makes it up meaning our daily human interactions.
10. Have You Seen The Horizon Lately?
Have you Seen The Horizon Lately In the latter case, Ono reminds viewers of the immensity and beauty of this earth, in which we perpetually exist. The horizon is created to engage the viewer in meditative contemplation with nature, enticing us to stop, or glance and admire the serene beauty of this majestic piece.
