Undoubtedly one of the most significant and iconic figures in contemporary art, Ono is a visionary whose work has spanned multiple disciplines — from conceptual art and performance to singing and songwriting — all of which must be seen through the lens of her social activism. As an artist, she continues to challenge conventions, redefining artistic boundaries and demonstrating the profound intersection between art and political activism. Over the decades, Ono has attracted both acclaim and controversy, inspiring and encouraging generations of artists, musicians, and social movements, which have ultimately secured her place as one of the most influential contemporary artists in the world today.
Yoko Ono, ‘Cut Piece’, 1965
Photo 1 & 2: Performance art. Carnegie Hall, New York. Photograph courtesy of Museum of Modern Art, New York
Born in Tokyo in 1933, Yoko Ono’s early exposure to both Western music and traditional Japanese art, played a key role in shaping her artistic sensibilities. After relocating to the United States in the 1950s, Ono was introduced to avant-garde art movements including Dadaism and Surrealism. During this time, she became involved with the emerging arts scene in downtown New York; through this, she exercised considerable influence on the ‘Fluxus’ movement, an experimental, anti-commercial, artistic collective that emphasised the intersection of life and art.
One of Ono’s most groundbreaking contributions over the past 60 years is undoubtedly the pioneering work she has done in creating and raising the profile of conceptual art. In the early 1960s, she began creating works that emphasised audience participation and minimalism. These works included Painting To Be Stepped On (1960-61) which invited people to tread upon a piece of canvas placed on the floor — either physically or in their minds — which questioned the division between art and everyday items that people often overlook. During a time when traditional societal norms were being challenged — and despite widespread opposition and suppression of such challenges — Ono courageously and publicly broadcasted her deeply held beliefs concerning issues ranging from war and peace to politics and injustice. Cut Piece (1964), in which audience members were invited to cut away pieces of her clothing as she sat motionless, is widely regarded as a radical feminist statement on vulnerability, objectification, and power dynamics.
Yoko Ono, Painting to Hammer a Nail In [Bronze Age]
Bronze canvas with nails, hammer with chain
Canvas: 29.5 x 22.8 x 9.5 cm; Hammer: 33 x 12 x 1.9 cm. Edition 2 of 9 + 2 Aps
Her Instruction Paintings, also from the 1960s, redefined the traditional role of the artist by encouraging viewers to engage with the artwork intellectually and physically. These works consisted of written directives, such as ‘Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in.’ By decentralising the artist’s authority, Ono expanded the possibilities of artistic expression, aligning her practice with the interactive nature of Fluxus art. LYRA is proud to include within its collection an iteration of one of the most famous works from Ono’s Instruction series. Painting to Hammer a Nail In [Bronze Age] (1988) is an interactive artwork that invites onlookers to hammer a nail into a canvas. Conceived in the early 1960s and first executed in 1966, the piece is intended to undermine the traditional role of the artist and encourage viewers to participate in the creation of the artwork. The 1988 work held by the LYRA came out of a time in the 1980s when Ono chose to remake many of her early conceptual pieces in bronze, noting that this was an age of commodity and solidity.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their bed in the Presidential Suite of the Hilton Hotel, Amsterdam
Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Ono was an established artist before her marriage to Beatles icon John Lennon, she played a critical role in shaping the countercultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Her experimental music, including albums such as Plastic Ono Band (1970) and Fly (1971), challenged conventional musical structures, blending spoken word, avant-garde instrumentation, and primal vocalisations. Whilst initially polarising opinion, her sonic innovations have since been recognised as precursors to punk rock, new wave, and noise music.
Her collaborations with Lennon, including Bed-In for Peace (1969) — a weeklong protest against the Vietnam War, held in their honeymoon suite at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam — positioned her as a leading activist-artist. The couple’s performance-based protests and advocacy for peace cemented her reputation as an artist whose work transcends traditional mediums and extends into socio-political activism.
Yoko Ono, ‘Wish Trees’
Landgrave’s Palace Garden, Bad Homburg Kurpark, Hesse, Germany
Photograph by Monika Müller
Ono’s influence on contemporary art remains profound. One of her ongoing works is the Wish Tree project (1996-present), an extraordinary series of installations in which visitors are invited to write their wishes for peace on small tags and attach them to trees. Wish Tree draws on themes of hope, interaction, community and collective participation, embodying in one (ongoing) work the values and worldview that have undergirded Ono’s entire artistic practice. The latest iteration of the Wish Tree project can be seen at a new exhibition at Park Avenue Armory in New York (14th-17th February 2025), featuring the largest installation of the project in North America to-date; within the Armory’s ‘Wade Thompson Drill Hall,’ a grove of 92 trees has been installed in honour of the artist’s 92nd birthday. Visitors are invited to contribute by tying personal wishes to the trees, creating a large-scale, yet intimate activation of her social practice work.
Portrait of Yoko Ono next to a ‘Wish Tree’ at MacDowell Artists’ Residency, New Hampshire
Courtesy of Yoko Ono
Contemporary artists continue to draw inspiration from Yoko Ono’s practice, particularly in the realms of performance art, participatory installations, and feminist discourse. Her presence in major exhibitions, including retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Tate Modern, further attest to her enduring legacy. Ultimately Ono’s career, from the 1960s to the present day, has been driven by a desire to question the boundaries between art and activism. As relevant today as it was 60 years ago, Ono’s work challenges us as we continue to grapple with many of the same issues that affected society in the 1960s (and long before); issues concerning peace, gender, and the role of art in bringing about social change. By continually redefining the parameters of artistic engagement, Ono has rightly become an enduring symbol of resilience, innovation, and radical creativity.