John Lennon Prints on Display in Yorkville

JOHN LENNON PRINTS ON DISPLAY IN YORKVILLE
February 14, 2015 to March 13, 2015

Peace. And love. 

Few other words best encapsulate the music, works and legend of late Beatle John Lennon, and that theme of peace and love will be the backdrop of an art exhibit inside a small gallery in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood over the next four weeks.

Around 70 limited edition posthumous prints of Lennon's artwork will be on display and for sale at the Liss Gallery, near Bloor Street West and Avenue Road. 

The Art of John Lennon, a far-reaching exhibit of serigraph and lithograph adaptations of original Lennon drawings picked by his widow, Yoko Ono. Shows have already hit various cities in the U.S., as well as England, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong.

And while the mystique and legend that surrounds Lennon is driven primarily by his music, it was visual art - drawing and sketching, in particular - that served as Lennon's first passion, one that led him to art college in England long before he went on to help form the most commercially successful band in pop-music history.

"These works are a real introduction to what life was like with John Lennon," said curator Lynne Clifford, of New York-based Bag One Arts. "It was always a major part of his life. For him, art was a way of expressing himself."

Clifford, who will take the show on to cities in Texas and Pennsylvania once done in Toronto, says she worked with Ono in choosing the works to be part of the show. A good deal of the pieces give viewers a glimpse into the personal life of a cultural icon. 

Each print is on sale by the Liss Gallery, with prices ranging from $1,750 to $9,750 a piece.

Let's Have a Dream, a sketch redone as a hand-pulled silkscreen serigraph print showing Lennon, Ono and son Sean standing together as a family, was done during a trip to Japan. In it, Lennon depicts himself with long hair and his trademark round-rimmed glasses. 

The show runs Feb. 14 to March 15, 2015.