Deciphering Yoko Ono's Artworks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Deciphering Yoko Onos Artworks - Essay ExampleThe essay Deciphering Yoko Onos Artworks explains the contrivanceworks of Yoko Ono. One of Yoko Onos works that testifies to her implement of conceptual art is that of the ceiling painting which is shown in Figure 1. The artwork consists of text on paper, glass, metal frame, metal chain, magnifying glass and painted ladder. In this well-known Ceiling Piece (1966), the seekers journey up a ladder is rewarded with a benevolent yes. Yet the word cant be easily read. A magnifying glass hanging nearby must be calld, reminding the viewer that it is their desire to know and see that carried them to this moment of affirmation. There is not so much subtlety in the Line element besides from the fact that the words were written so as to produce the desired effect of queer thinking. The simplicity of the shape, a three dimensional ladder, induces the mind as it makes the viewer wander about where the ladder is leading to. Its effect is that it a rouses curiosity and such is the stylus to make others view your work. When it comes to texture, the artwork seems to suggest of the smooth transition as the viewer climbs the stairs. We see that when it comes to space, there is that little space where the ladder is focused. There is no boundary for the negative space and it is this vastness that the viewer is attracted to the artwork. We see that the stairs were highlighted. The contrast between the ladder and its surrounding serves to further emphasize that this ladder is not just an ordinary ladder but something much. That placement of the common ladder makes it so conspicuous that someone passing by would be interested in taking a glance at the artwork. The lightness value of the way the ladder was emphasized somehow gave it a glint of mystery which made it more mysterious to behold. After having read the words yes with the magnifying glass, the whole work achieves harmony with the viewer as he now feels the aura of mysterious ness and the sense of fulfillment. Perhaps the military campaign in the artwork is the climbing of the stairs, usage of the magnifying glass and reading the words. Each movement leads the viewer more to the essence of the artwork and makes him internalize the meaning of what he has just experienced. I could not agree more with what Bowen (2003) tells us that Ono Ceiling Piece encourages us to ponder where were heading..emphasizing the visual nature of this quest by linking weird affirmation to the seekers curious gaze. On the other hand, what is finally found is a word, not an image. This substitution makes the mental nature of vision apparent.Another work of art of Ono is the invitation to her exhibit This is Not Here (1971). The invitations were written on partially fixed then folded photographic paper. When the invitation was opened and exposed to the light, the image imprinted disappeared. Instead, what was left was Onos name and call back number. The recipient was left with a blank sheet of paper and an afterimage of its contents. The feeling of being puzzled and awe was for Ono what art should be and that is wonderment. This use of photographs, as she called it, is a tool with which to picture our world, mediate our desires, fulfill our goals, and yet it too exists in flux, perpetually afloat and ridden with life.The question that now faces us is how to delineate the elements of art in this work. Can we consider the lines that gave semblance to the imprints as having some artistic