I went to see the exhibition by Yoko Ono at the Serpentine Gallery the other day, a retrospective called 'To The Light'. It includes a range of her older pieces from the 1960s alongside some more recent art.
As well as the physical works are aural pieces as a hawk screech welcomes you as you walk into the first gallery, followed by a heartbeat in the next room as it mingles with the hawk call. Yoko's art isn't always terribly serious and, I suspect, she likes to raise a smile and a chuckle, such as her 'Sky TV' piece that is a flat-screen TV with a static picture of clouds. The original piece was on a bulky TV set in 1966. The 2012 version is more elegant and developments since 1966 adds to its potential.
She recreates the step-ladder piece, 'Ceiling Painting', leading up to a magnifying glass that John Lennon famously climbed and looked through and saw the word 'yes' when they first met at one of her shows in the '60s. There are other Lennon references in the show, including video footage of his naked bum and, elsewhere, their footprints walking up a wall.
You've got to pay attention to what Yoko is doing with her objects. 'Helmets' is a series of 11 war helmets hanging from the ceiling but look inside each of the helmets to see small blue pieces of jigsaw with 'y.o.' printed on them. I wonder what the jigsaw will show if all the pieces were taken from the helmets and put together on the floor? Tempting.
I didn't walk in 'Amaze' a see-through maze in one of the rooms but other people did and banged into the walls when they met a dead end. On the wall beside the maze are some plasma screens showing clips from her film, 'Fly'.
I liked some of the framed, hand-written short poems, such as 'The Room Without A Window I':
"Draw a window on the wall
to remind you of the sun.
to remind you of the rain that taps
to remind you of the sunset that makes you smile
to remind you of the moonlight that sneaks in your room
to remind you of the snow that covers the world."
The onochord is mounted on the roof of the Serpentine but you're not allowed up there. The onochord is a light piece so I assume is seen best at night. Outside by the entrance are four wish trees in big planters and beside that is a small stand with labels to write a wish on and tie it to the trees. A handwritten note in a frame says:
"Wish Tree for London
Write your wish
on a piece of paper
Hang the paper on the Wish Tree
Ask a friend to do the same.
Keep wishing.
Yoko Ono 2012"
I made a wish.
She recreates the step-ladder piece, 'Ceiling Painting', leading up to a magnifying glass that John Lennon famously climbed and looked through and saw the word 'yes' when they first met at one of her shows in the '60s. There are other Lennon references in the show, including video footage of his naked bum and, elsewhere, their footprints walking up a wall.
You've got to pay attention to what Yoko is doing with her objects. 'Helmets' is a series of 11 war helmets hanging from the ceiling but look inside each of the helmets to see small blue pieces of jigsaw with 'y.o.' printed on them. I wonder what the jigsaw will show if all the pieces were taken from the helmets and put together on the floor? Tempting.
I didn't walk in 'Amaze' a see-through maze in one of the rooms but other people did and banged into the walls when they met a dead end. On the wall beside the maze are some plasma screens showing clips from her film, 'Fly'.
I liked some of the framed, hand-written short poems, such as 'The Room Without A Window I':
"Draw a window on the wall
to remind you of the sun.
to remind you of the rain that taps
to remind you of the sunset that makes you smile
to remind you of the moonlight that sneaks in your room
to remind you of the snow that covers the world."
The onochord is mounted on the roof of the Serpentine but you're not allowed up there. The onochord is a light piece so I assume is seen best at night. Outside by the entrance are four wish trees in big planters and beside that is a small stand with labels to write a wish on and tie it to the trees. A handwritten note in a frame says:"Wish Tree for London
Write your wish
on a piece of paper
Hang the paper on the Wish Tree
Ask a friend to do the same.
Keep wishing.
Yoko Ono 2012"
I made a wish.
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