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94.
UNFINISHED PAINTINGS & OBJECTS.
London: Indica Gallery, November 1966. Exhibition poster. Printed offset in black on pale cream paper. 61.6x45.6cm. Credit line states 'Designed by James Dwyer for Yoko Ono'.
The Indica show was Yoko's first exhibition outside the USA and Japan and consisted mostly of white and transparent objects, with the exception of 'Add Colour Painting' (represented by the poster), a work inviting viewer participation for which paints and brushes were provided on an adjacent white chair. The show came about after John Dunbar, the director of the gallery, met Yoko at the Destruction in Art Symposium in September 1966, and it was Dunbar who suggested to John Lennon that he should visit before its opening, famously leading to John and Yoko's first meeting.
In an interview with Jann Wenner four years later, Lennon recalled that "John Dunbar insisted she say hello to the millionaire, you know what I mean. And she came up and handed me a card which said 'Breathe' on it, one of her instructions, so I just went (pant). This was our meeting" (International Times photographer Graham Keen took a number of photographs of Yoko during the gallery installation but wasn't present to record the moment). Lennon was the first to sign the Indica Gallery visitors' book for the show, using his middle name of Winston rather than John, and filled out his Kenwood address in full.
Yoko's exhibition received significant attention in the press and led to her being offered further solo and joint shows, including at the Lisson Gallery a year later and her first joint collaboration with Lennon at the Arts Lab in June 1968.
The poster was printed in a very small run, and since almost everything exhibited at the show was conceptual and never intended to be finished, it stands as one of the few tangible objects surviving from the event.
Faint lower right corner crease; light overall handling wear and minor creasing. Provenance: Graham Keen.
