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Yoko Ono sells DIY broken cup to raise funds for London gallery

 (Dave Benett)
(Dave Benett)

Yoko Ono has released a new smash hit with a difference to raise funds for an east London art gallery.

The Japaneseartist, and widow of John Lennon, is selling a limited edition work consisting of a broken ceramic cup in a box and some glue to stick it back together for £175 with all the money going to the Whitechapel Gallery.

Called Mend Piece for John, Ono has only made 100 copies of the work which comes with instructions telling the buyer to think about “mending the world” while repairing the broken pottery.

Limited edition work consists of a broken ceramic cup in a box and some glue to stick it back together for £175 (HANDOUT)
Limited edition work consists of a broken ceramic cup in a box and some glue to stick it back together for £175 (HANDOUT)

The work is inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi where broken pottery is repaired using lacquer coloured with gold and silver to make it obvious where it has been mended.

The gallery is currently showing an exhibition of Ono’s work including a table full of broken cups and saucers which visitors are invited to repair.It is similar to an exhibit in her first show in 1966 at the Indica Gallery where she first met the Beatles star.

Lennon was apparently unimpressed with her avant-garde take on contemporary art but they soon became a couple and married in 1968 with their unconventional wedding in Gibraltar inspiring the band’s last number one The Ballad of John and Yoko. They were still together in 1980 when the singer was shot dead outside their New York home.

Ono is one of five artists who have donated work to the gallery to be sold with all the money raised being used to support its exhibition and education programmes.

The gallery was founded in 1901 and is the only one in the UK to have shown Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica.

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