Art Metropole

#15951

Everything in the Universe is Unfinished

Artist

Yoko Ono

Date

2018

Publisher

JRP | Ringier

Format

Artists' Books

ISBN

978-3-03764-542-0

Size

14 × 14 cm

Length

48 pp

Genre

Illustration, Poetry

This new edition of landmark publication by avant-garde artist and cultural icon Yoko Ono combines never-before-published texts and invitation pieces written in 2016–2018 with drawings from the “Franklin Summer” series she started in 1994. Embodying her visionary philosophy, Yoko Ono’s latest artist’s book is a companion for life.

For Yoko Ono, words, artworks, and books still have the power to change the world we live in for the better. Thus she continuously shares with us her vision of and philosophy on life—one that is made of pivotal experiences, unstoppable optimism, and a love for the other. Coming after several volumes that have proved to be life companions to many, “Everything in the Universe Is Unfinished” reflects on her most recent feelings through a delicate interweaving of poems, aphorisms, short stories, and drawings.

Peace is power.

Born in Tokyo, 1933, Yoko Ono was the first woman admitted to the philosophy program at Gakushuin University, Tokyo, where she studied before moving to New York in 1953. By 1960 she had become a vital part of the New York avant-garde and the international Fluxus movements, being a critical link between the American and Japanese avant-gardes, pioneering new idioms in performance and art. Her boundary-pushing early works include the pioneering performance work “Cut Piece,” and her book of collected conceptual instructions, “Grapefruit,” both 1964. By 1968, Ono began collaborating in art, music, and peace activism with her partner and husband John Lennon. As a singer and songwriter, she has released fourteen studio albums and eight collaborative albums, including the 1981 Grammy award winning Album of the Year, “Double Fantasy.” Ono’s artworks and films are widely exhibited internationally and are included numerous prestigious museum and private collections. In 2009 she was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from the Venice Biennale. Ono’s groundbreaking work greatly influenced the international development of Conceptual art, performance art, and experimental film and music.