‘Painting to be stepped on’ is a work dating back to 1960.
With the permission of Yoko Ono, I had a reconstruction made of this art work in November
2003. It was to be used during the Centraal Fluxus Festival, an event Willem de Ridder and I
were organising for the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. It was to be laid on the floor and those
who wanted could step on it.
Yoko Ono wrote the following about ‘Painting to be stepped on’:
In the 15th-century Japan, a “stepping painting” (Fumie) was used to distinguish Christians
from non-Christians. A person was asked to step on the portrait of Christ. Those who could
not were immediately taken away to be crucified. Most Japanese Christians refused to step
on the portrait, despite the consequences, which they were aware of. As a young child, I
was terrified by the story, but I also promised myself that I would be a person who adhered
to her principles just as the Japanese Christians did. Later, in New York, I felt the urge to
release myself from that little girl in me and to step on a painting.
y.o.
(From: Art, NO-Art & Anti-Art, Amsterdam, 2019.)
