SITTING WITH YOKO
OPENING RECEPTION ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, FROM 12 NOON - 3 PM
ON VIEW IN THE GALLERY DRIVEWAY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, AND MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, FROM 12 NOON - 3 PM
McLennon Pen Co. Gallery is thrilled to present Sitting with Yoko, a unique exhibition of Yoko Ono editions, memorabilia, clothing, and vinyl records from gallery owner Jill McLennon’s personal collection.
Timed intentionally to open the week leading up to the U.S. 2024 election, Sitting with Yoko aims to create a safe space where visitors can experience a sense of calm, community, and reflection. Yoko Ono’s conceptual work exudes an optimism and simplicity rooted in the idealism of the 1960s, embodying an ethos that is deeply perceptive, often humorous, and strongly feminist.
Among the featured works is A Box of Smile, a deceptively simple yet profound piece–essentially a small box that, when opened, reveals a mirror inside, casting the viewer's reflection and encouraging a smile. This work embodies Ono’s playful approach, inviting quiet moments of self-reflection and joy. Ono has shared that these boxes held personal significance for her, providing comfort and uplifting reminders during difficult times, particularly after the loss of John Lennon. The piece grew into several different variations over the years but the original concept came from her 1964 work Self Portrait, where she mailed small pieces of mirror to fellow Fluxus members, encouraging them to view themselves as the artwork. Together with works like her Instruction Paintings and Cut Piece, Ono’s contributions to Fluxus pioneered a participatory, conceptual approach that reshaped how audiences experienced and interacted with art, bringing them into the creative process itself.
Other pieces on display include Ono’s Pieces of the Sky, a complete set of puzzle pieces with an image of clouds that were gathered from an installation at her 2024 Tate Modern retrospective, where visitors were encouraged to take a fragment of the sky home with them. This interactive work, like many of Ono’s large-edition pieces, embodies her commitment to accessibility and her willingness to let fans and audiences carry “pieces of Yoko” into their own lives.
In the second room, we feature Yoko’s Beck’s Beer collaboration from 2004, produced in an edition of 2,000. The label includes an image of Yoko as a young girl, cleverly flipping the concept of a missing child on a milk carton to one of a child instead appearing on an alcoholic beverage. Prominently displayed is a “WARNING: DO NOT ENTER without permission” notice, with an intriguing choice of capitalization that hints at deeper meanings, relating to themes of sexual consent, an issue that often comes into question when people are drinking alcohol. Looking at Beck’s hyper sexualized advertisements from the early 2000s, one especially crude example features a beer bottle designed to resemble a woman’s curvaceous body, accompanied by the text “Brazilian” and an image of the label dramatically torn into a thin vertical strip. With this artist edition though, Yoko clearly had free rein to subvert the brand’s usual messaging and to express her point of view, while also supporting a positive cause—the Beck’s Futures art prize, which funded emerging artists’ careers. Additionally, the language about London and the U.N. on the bottom portion of the beer label can arguably point to another type of traumatic intrusion, reflecting on her childhood experience of war, famine, and bombings in Tokyo during World War II.
In the main room, visitors can settle into lounge chairs, select from a variety of Yoko Ono's vinyl records, and listen through personal headsets. Songs like “What a Mess” (Approximately Infinite Universe, 1973), “Woman Power” (Feeling the Space, 1973), and “Sisters, O Sisters” (Some Time in New York City, 1972) address themes of feminism, peace, and global understanding.
In the corner of this space, a pair of men’s boots are meant to evoke in a quirky way the loving presence of John Lennon, who undoubtedly influenced her foray into music and collaborated with her on many early records. These boots were created in 2012 as part of Yoko’s collaboration with the innovative fashion brand Opening Ceremony, where she designed a line of menswear and footwear. The sketches for these pieces were originally made for John on the occasion of their wedding day, flipping the male gaze to create highly sexualized male clothing, such as a pant design featuring a handprint sewn onto the crotch. This line included two series of men’s shoes, and we have one of the rare editions of the boots with brass incense burners attached to the toes. This design could symbolize the burning away of sins, or the cleansing of bad auras, inviting a sense of renewal wherever the wearer steps. Accompanying the boots is a paperback book showcasing the original clothing sketches from 1969 in Yoko’s hand.
“I hope visitors find a moment of quiet and reflection in this exhibition”, McLennon shares. Sitting with Yoko offers an opportunity to reconnect with Ono’s legacy, find a moment of peace, and perhaps see her work in a new light.
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On November 3rd and 4th, outside the gallery, we will also host BODY FREEDOM FOR EVERY(BODY) by Project for Empty Space—an art exhibition traveling cross-country in a 27-foot box truck. This mobile gallery, parked in our driveway, features works by over 100 artists aimed at cultivating community from coast to coast. The truck exhibit highlights global artists’ perspectives on Reproductive Justice, Queer Liberation, and Trans Joy.
The exhibition launched its national tour on September 4, 2024, in Times Square and has been stopping in cities across the U.S. in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. The truck, wrapped in a Barbara Kruger text based artwork with her iconic phrase "Your Body is a Battleground," showcases permanent works by Ana Mendieta, Andrea Bowers, Demian DinéYazhi, and Mickalene Thomas, alongside a rotating selection of pieces by local artists in each city it visits.
The truck exhibit will also appear at a nearby partner location, Future Front Texas, a few blocks down the street from our gallery. It will be on view in their parking lot on November 1st, 2nd, and 5th.
For more information, please email us at info@mclennonpenco.com.