Sky Machine

December 1960 – June 1961

The Chambers Street loft: a series of events

Ono rents an inexpensive loft in downtown Manhattan at 112 Chambers Street and uses it as a studio and living space, while the composer La Monte Young organises concerts there. The series is attended by people such as Marcel Duchamp and Peggy Guggenheim; Ono herself presents work only once.

1961

First solo exhibition at the AG Gallery

George Maciunas, who promotes her work, gives Ono her first solo exhibition at his AG Gallery in New York. In July 1961 “Painting to Be Stepped On” and other instruction-based works are shown there again.

1961

First major concert at Carnegie Recital Hall

Ono gives her first major public performance: a concert of radical experimental music and performances at the 258-seat Carnegie Recital Hall, smaller than the Main Hall.

1964

“Grapefruit” is published

Ono publishes “Grapefruit”, a book of instruction-based “action poems”. Nearly half a century later, in 2013, a sequel, “Acorn”, will follow.

7 November 1966

Meets John Lennon at the Indica Gallery

At the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono is preparing “Unfinished Paintings”, her conceptual exhibition, the gallery owner John Dunbar introduces her to John Lennon. Lennon is won over by “Ceiling Painting / Yes Painting”, a ladder at the top of which a magnifying glass reveals the tiny word YES; in “Hammer a Nail” he wants to hammer a nail in, Ono at first stops him and then relents for five shillings, and Lennon replies that he will give her an imaginary five shillings and hammer in an imaginary nail.

September 1967

“Half-A-Wind Show” at Lisson Gallery

After they meet, Ono starts writing to Lennon and sending him her conceptual artworks, and soon the two are corresponding. In September 1967 Lennon sponsors her solo “Half-A-Wind Show” at Lisson Gallery in London.