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And Finally Artist News
Canadian Police seek woman who stole Yoko Ono pebble
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 9 April 2018
Police in Toronto are searching for a woman who stole a pebble bearing Yoko Ono’s handwriting from an art exhibition.
The stone was part of Ono’s installation ‘The Riverbed’, currently on display at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. It was one of a number of rocks in the interactive exhibition, all of which have been shaped by water and some of which Ono has written words or phrases on. While visitors are invited to pick up the stones, walking out of the building with them is frowned upon. Particularly as the stone in question, upon which is written “love yourself”, is valued at $17,500.
The theft actually took place last month, but with the thief still at large police have now appealed to the public for information. They say that the woman, aged between 55 and 60, walked off with the stone at about 5.30pm on 12 Mar.
“It’s a totally interactive [exhibit]”, a police spokesperson told the Toronto Star. “There’s a bunch of rocks on the ground and people can walk up to them and pick them up. She just picked it up and walked away with it”.
You can see the other pieces of rock with writing on at the Gardiner Museum until 2 Jun, by which time the missing one may or may not have been returned. Security has presumably now been increased in order to prevent another heist of this magnitude.
