John Lennon | Piece for George Maciunas Who Can't Distinguish Between These Colors

John Lennon

Piece for George Maciunas Who Can't Distinguish Between These Colors

New York City, USA: Fluxus, 1971

12 x 24 x 2.5 cm.

Edition size unknown (only prototypes may exist)

Little is known about this work. It was never advertised in any of the Fluxus newsletters or mentioned in Maciunas' prolific correspondence (unlike countless other editions which were proposed but never materialized). However at least two copies exist: one in the Getty collection and other in the legendary Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus collection, now housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. 

The work is proposed as a gift to Maciunas (who was colour blind) but the typewritten card displays the hallmarks of his design, suggesting it was intended as a Fluxus edition. [The Independent claims that the card was typed by Lennon]

The piece is very poorly documented, with only the above closed colour image from the MoMa and the black & white thumbnail available. 

"It was typical, perhaps even symptomatic that he used only black and white. He saw the world in sharp, moral terms, not in moderated shades of gray. Awake to the myriad logic forks in a chess game, he was insensitive to the hundreds of thousands of colors that human eyes distinguish. Someone once told me that George was color-blind. Perhaps it was true. If so, I can understand it.”

- Ken Friedman