Yoko Ono | Instruction Paintings

Yoko Ono

Instruction Paintings

New York City, USA/Tokyo, Japan: Weatherhill, 1995

63 pp., 18.5 x 18.5 cm., slipcase

Edition size unknown

One of the earliest books on Ono to focus (retrospectively) on a single body of work, this title documents an exhibition of Ono's at George Maciunas' AG Gallery in New York. The title features six illustrations of the works and the text (in both English and Japanese) to the Instruction Paintings: Painting to the See the Skies, Painting for the Wind, Painting in Three Stanzas, Painting to Shake Hands, Painting for Burial, Smoke Painting, Painting to See the Room, Painting to Hammer a Nail, Waterdrop Painting, Painting to Let the Evening Light Go Through, Painting To Be Constructed in Your Head (5 versions), Painting Until it Becomes Marble, A + B Painting (2 versions), Portrait of Mary, Painting to Enlarge and See, Painting for a Broken Sewing Machine, and Painting to be Constructed in Your Head.

In the six-page introductory text Ono is quite candid about her first marriages (to composer Toshi Ichiyanagi and later to film producer Tony Cox) and about a brief stay in a clinic during a bout of depression.

Photographs by George Maciunas and cover design by Ono.

"PAINTING TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN YOUR HEAD

Imagine a flower made ofhard material such as gold, silver, stainless steel, tin, marble, copper, etc. Imagine it so that you can count each of the thousand petals of the flower. Imagine that the petals suddenly become soft like cotton, or like living flesh. In three hours, pick all the petals. Save one and press it in a book. In the margin oft he page where the flower is pressed, note the derivation of the petal and the name of the petal. At least eight hours should be spent for the construction of the painting.”

- Yoko Ono