A pioneering conceptual artist and founding member of the Fluxus movement, Yoko Ono has produced a diverse and ever-expanding body of work since she first emerged on the downtown avant garde art scene in the early 1960s. This presentation gives a broad overview of the artist’s career—which now spans more than five decades—and charts her growing influence in the fields of photography, installation, painting, conceptual art, music, and performance. Included are artists’ publications such as The Other Rooms, a sequel to the groundbreaking artists’ book Grapefruit, and the experimental narrative “Spare Room.” These works are presented alongside a selection of exhibition catalogs from around the globe.

Ono’s artists’ books and related publications have had a longtime presence at Printed Matter. The artist has been an active and enduring participant, supporter and advocate of the organization for decades. Grapefruit was amongst Printed Matter’s earliest inventory when the organization was located on Lispenard Street. In the early 2000s, Printed Matter, at that time on 22nd Street, staged an exhibition curated by then-Assistant Manager Amanda Keeley which featured scores of Ono’s artists’ books, posters, printed ephemera, and artists’ multiples. In 2010, Printed Matter was a recipient of Yoko Ono’s second annual Courage in the Arts Awards, alongside the Guerilla Girls and Émile Zola, posthumously.

Yoko Ono’s radical imagination and provocative wit are on full display within the pages of her wide-ranging creations, which serve as blueprints for building a more open and inventive global society.