Even I myself find it intriguing that the first entry in this blog is on Yoko Ono. After all, she is quite an eccentric person, at least according to some descriptions by people with the experience. The subject of Yoko Ono is so interesting that I decided to make an exception and post the same entry both in Finnish and in English, each in the appropriate half of this bilingual blog pair.
Why Yoko Ono, then? As long as I can remember, I have been a Beatles fan, and I have read lots of books about the Beatles. Naturally, also Yoko Ono became familiar to me in the process. The other day I happened to watch Fly, a short film by her. I had read about the film a long time ago, e.g. in May Pang's autobiography, Loving John. May Pang, an assistant in the shooting, described the shooting quite vividly. So, I was prepared to watch the film. On the other hand, there is nothing that could prepare one to see the film. Merely reading about the film and its shooting just isn't enough to form an image about the film. It is something that one has to see for oneself.
Watching Fly reminded me of an essay I had written in upper secondary school, when I was about 18 years old. When writing the essay, I applied the knowlegde I had gained on Yoko Ono and her art by reading tons of books on the Beatles and John Lennon. When I remembered the essay, I had an idea: I could start a blog covering various forms of art; writing on various things I get to see, read and experience. It also occurred to me that Yoko Ono would be an interesting subject for the very first blog entry. After all, her art divides opinions. "Art or no art?" is a question one might ask about Yoko Ono's work. That also happened to be the title of my essay.
Art or No Art?
In the late 1960's, British art gallery Indica witnessed a strange art exhibition. One of the items was a piece of wood, where the visitors could bang nails after paying the artist. The artist was an American born in Japan, Yoko Ono. One of the visitors in the exhibition was the singer and guitarist of the Beatles, John Lennon, who had been brought to the gallery by a friend. The friend also introduced John Lennon to Yoko Ono. She did not say anything, but offered Lennon a card with the word "Breathe" printed on it. The card was a part of a "book" of poems by Yoko Ono, entitled Grapefruit. The "book" consisted of cards, each of which contained a piece of advice. When he arrived at the piece of wood with nails, John Lennon asked Yoko Ono: "If I give you imaginary money, may I bang an imaginary nail into the wood?" Lennon was granted his request, and later Yoko Ono said that at that moment she had noticed that there was something similar in John Lennon and herself. When Yoko Ono and John Lennon started seeing each other and later got married, Yoko Ono gained lots of publicity for her art.
With John Lennon as her supporter and sponsor, Yoko Ono staged many versatile performances that she called as her art. Many people thought, however, that Yoko Ono's work was not art, but merely an attempt to gain money and fame. For instance, how on earth could merely one word be a poem, or lyrics to a song? Yoko Ono did not get copyright on the lyrics of her song Why; the lyrics consisted of just one word, "why", which was yelled by Yoko Ono over and over again to musical accompaniment. Yoko Ono tried several times to get copyright on her "poem", but was informed that a poem must consist of at least eight lines before any copyright can be registered. Yoko Ono received copyright only on the melody entitled Why.
Some of her "works of art" Yoko Ono conducted in the name of peace, like her film Up Your Legs Forever: she commanded 367 people to arrive to a studio in order to film their legs. Yoko Ono stressed that this all would be made in the name of peace, and the people she had chosen arrived obligingly to the studio and allowed their legs to be shot for the film. The audience at the premiere got bored quite quickly, and the cinema was filled with loud whistles: with a run time of more than one hour, the film merely cavalcaded a multitude of legs, with no plot at all.
Yoko Ono has also worked in the field of performance art. One of these performances was Cut Piece, where Yoko Ono sat on the stage, and the audience was allowed to come up and cut off pieces of her clothes until she was stark naked. According to Yoko Ono, this was best understood by some nuns. After a performance of Cut Piece, a group of nuns had told Yoko Ono that they basically worked in a similar way, giving people what they needed, instead of something that might be of no use to the recipient.
In addition to song Why Yoko Ono has composed other eccentric songs, for example one called Oh John Let's Hope for Peace. The vocals of the song consist of strange whining, screaming and shouting, in the midst of which an observant listener may discern words "Oh John, let's hope for peace." While John Lennon was alive, Yoko Ono's songs tended to follow this pattern. After John Lennon was shot to death in New York City in December 1980, Yoko Ono composed an album entitled Season of Glass, where the songs contained more words than her previous ones. In addition to that, Yoko Ono had reduced her eccentric whines and cries to almost nothing. Possibly Season of Glass was for Yoko Ono a way to mourn Lennon's death: one of the songs begins with the sound of shots, followed by Yoko Ono's desperate cry, "No!"
When John Lennon was still alive, Yoko Ono's actions were often in the headlines. Whatever Yoko Ono did, she had an audience and received a good press coverage: after all, she was married to John the Beatle, and lots of people wanted to see what kind of art she was creating. Nowadays Yoko Ono is not in the limelight as often as she used to be, but still her art and performances are covered by the press every now and then: she is still Lennon's widow.
During the Gulf War, in the beginning of year 1991, Yoko Ono held an exhibition in Finland. She was present at the opening of the exhibition, and had her contours painted on the walls of the gallery in several places. In honour of Yoko Ono, there were also posters saying "War is over - if you want it." During the late 1960's, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had rented advertising hoardings for such posters in many cities all over the world. Yoko Ono was pleased to see the posters up again, and she stated in interviews that the issue behind the posters was still quite topical.
The question remains, whether Yoko Ono is an artist or a con artist. The same question could be posed about any avant-garde artist. Some of Yoko Ono's works are art, even though they break the traditional concept of art, and as a result are unacceptable to some people. Some of her works stir conversation by their eccentricity. Some can even be considered tasteless. Nevertheless I accept Yoko Ono's status as an artist. Avant-garde is art without being art. Avant-garde can take an everyday object and place it in a gallery, making it art. Imagination is what avant-garde is all about, and the works of Yoko Ono are art for imagination.
In my essay, I steered clear of the film Fly. Probably because in upper secondary school I was still quite a shy girl. I would never have dared to present my Finnish teacher with an essay describing a woman, lying naked on a bed, unable to lift a finger due to being so high on drugs. Or a fly crawling on the woman's skin, and even entering her vagina. I used to have an instinct for self-preservation.
Since then, a certain degree of cheekiness has entered my life. I have no need to worry whether my teacher thinks I'm a pervert - upper secondary school and my teens are things of past. I don't have to think twice before sitting down at my computer and writing my opinion on a short film entitled Fly. All it takes for me is to form an opinion on the film - Fly is a film that leaves one at a loss. I'm not even sure whether I will be able to put my feelings into writing. There is the possibility that for the time being, my dealings with Yoko Ono will be limited to this blog entry and the essay from my days in upper secondary school. Nevertheless, Yoko Ono has done well in acting as a catalyst, inspiring me to create this blog.
