Yoko Ono
‘Yes’. In a tiny font, this small word – only visible from atop a ladder – was affixed to the ceiling of the Indica Gallery in 1966. The work was part of an exhibition by Yoko Ono, conceptual artist and experimental musician. The "yes" art installation was positive, affirming, a bit strange, a bit funny, and – after John Lennon climbed the ladder – was what brought together John and Yoko. Born in 1933 in Tokyo, Japan to a wealthy and elite family, Ono was educated in the best schools and trained in piano and composition. The family survived the 1945 bombing of Tokyo and eventually moved to Scarsdale, New York where Ono enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College. She became interested in avant-garde composers such as Schoenberg and Cage, and moved to a loft in the Lower West Side of Manhattan. Her loft space eventually became a salon of sorts for experimental artists to play music, read poetry, and share their performance art. In 1963, she married American artist Anthony Cox (after divorcing her previous husband Toshi Ichiyanagi), who worked with her to develop her conceptual artwork. Ono was associated with the Fluxus movement, and continued to create conceptual performance work to mixed critical reviews. A turning point in her career was Cut Piece, in which Ono invited the audience to cut off her clothing with scissors. It received positive reviews and led to invitations for solo exhibitions. After their first encounter in 1966, by 1969 Lennon and Ono had divorced their respective spouses and were married. John and Yoko embarked on a series of collaborations together in music, film, and performance art. They were also politically active, famously staging a Bed-In for Peace on their honeymoon. At the time, Ono was unfairly derided by Beatles fans and excoriated in the press as instigating the break-up of the group; now we know the Beatles break-up was separate from the simple reality that John and Yoko were completely in love. After the birth of their son in 1975, John dedicated much of his time to caring for Sean, while Ono focused on the business aspects of their careers. In 1980 they released the album Double Fantasy, and in December of that year John Lennon was shot to death by Mark Chapman. Throughout the 1980s and 90s Yoko Ono continued to work on art installations, photography, and music. In 2001 YES Yoko Ono, a retrospective of her work received the International Association of Art Critics award for Best Museum Show. Ono continues to curate the legacy of John Lennon, and to inspire new works across her multiple artistic disciplines.
