Toronto police are searching for a woman who allegedly stole a stone from a Yoko Ono exhibition at the city’s Gardiner museum. The stone, inscribed with the words “Love yourself”, was taken from the museum on 6 April. Security camera footage showed the suspect walking away from the museum.
The item was part of an installation called The Riverbed, and has an individual value of $17,500 (£12,400). The Riverbed contains a section called Stone Piece, which “features a pile of river stones that have been honed and shaped by water over time”, per the museum’s website. Visitors are invited to pick up the stones – some of which feature inscriptions by Ono – and consider the words before placing them on another pile of stones.
Female sought in Theft Over $5000 investigation. Mon. Mar. 12, at 5:35 p.m., at the Gardiner Museum located at 111 Queen’s Park. She allegedly stole a rock on display of an art exhibit. Last seen walking south on Queen’s Park. #GO601628 if seen pls call 416-808-5200 ^gl pic.twitter.com/uzoQ38AZ9S
— Toronto Police OPS (@TPSOperations) April 7, 2018
Toronto police media officer Gary Long told the Toronto Star that the suspect “just picked it up and walked away with it”. The suspect is described as 55 to 60 years of age, and approximately five foot four. She was dressed in black and wore a red scarf with black stripes.
The Riverbed exhibition runs at Toronto’s Gardiner museum until 3 June. It was first shown at Galerie LeLong & Co and Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York City in 2015.
In May, the Museum of Liverpool will open Double Fantasy, a joint exhibition of Yoko Ono and her late husband John Lennon’s artwork and their Imagine Peace campaign. The show will feature personal objects alongside art, music and film. “We were a very simple couple just loving each other every day and I just wanted to show the simple truth of us,” said Ono.
