Post by nowheregirl on Aug 29, 2007 11:02:42 GMT 1
Times Argus
Yoko Ono talks about John Lennon's art, legacy
August 29, 2007
By Greg Haymes Albany Times Union
ALBANY, N.Y. — More than a quarter century after he was gunned down in 1980, this is turning out to be quite a landmark year for John Lennon.
Of course, it's the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' groundbreaking album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Cirque du Soleil's latest production, "Love" (featuring the reimagined and reproduced music of the Beatles), opened in Las Vegas at the end of June. And June also marked the release of the CD set "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur," featuring many of today's top pop and rock stars singing Lennon's most beloved songs.
Now, a traveling art exhibition features more than 100 of Lennon's artworks — rare original drawings, signed lithographs and limited-edition prints. It's called: "Come Together: The Artwork of John Lennon."
Lennon's widow and artistic collaborator Yoko Ono spoke from her Manhattan apartment in the Dakota about the Saratoga Springs exhibit, Lennon's art and his musical legacy:
Q: When John was making his art, was he working exclusively in black and white? Was it pen and ink on paper?
A: Yes, he worked mostly in pen and ink, although sometimes with the Asian brush, too. And sometimes, he just worked in pencil on paper. The reason was because he was just doing his art work whenever he could, whenever he felt like it. He would just grab a piece of paper and sketch something out.
Q: He worked fast?
A: Very fast, yes.
Q: Did he ever do any paintings?
A: Yes, he did. But you know, the paintings that he did were probably done before 1967. I think that he did very, very few paintings, and I don't have any of them. The major portion of his work was done in pen and ink.
Q: What artists did John admire?
A: He was a big fan of Magritte, for instance. And van Gogh, too, of course. Both of us really loved those two artists, so that's where we shared a real common bond. Magritte certainly exhibited a sense of humor and wit in his paintings, and I think that definitely appealed to John.
Q: Did John exhibit his artwork very often when he was alive?
A: Not really. He did one show of his "Bag One" lithographs at the London Arts Gallery in 1970, and they were confiscated immediately by Scotland Yard — which is so crazy, isn't it? I think that John just loved the drama of it, though.
And then there was one exhibit in New York City, and there was one more show in London called "You Are Here." It was kind of ignored by the critics, and John was expecting more, so he wasn't very happy about that. But that was it, really, as far as John's art exhibits.
Q: But now John's work is in the collection of prestigious art museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, isn't it?
A: Strangely enough, even with his fame and power and all that, he turned out to be like so many other important artists of the 20th century who could not get their work in a gallery while they were alive. It's amazing, isn't it?
Q: Was it a difficult task convincing galleries to show John's work?
A: Yes. In the beginning, it was very, very difficult for me to convince galleries to exhibit John's work. They'd say, "No, we don't do that," because he was a pop star. "We don't want to show the dabblings of a pop star, we exhibit art," they used to tell me. And then when they saw his work, they realized that it was something more than just dabbling. Even still, they were afraid for their reputation as a serious gallery to show John's drawings. It was like that.
Q: Since John's death, you've obviously spent a great deal of your time as the custodian of his work, both musically and artistically speaking.
A: Yes, yes, yes, and I'm very, very happy about that. It's my pleasure to do that, because if the shoe were on the other foot, so to speak — if John was here — he would have promoted my work, too, I'm sure. I just know that.
Q: What other Lennon legacy musical projects are coming up?
A: Well, all of John's albums are now available on iTunes for the first time now. Isn't that great?
Q: Do you have an iPod?
A: No, I don't actually. Everybody else around me has one, but me, I stick to the regular big computer for my music. Still, the whole concept is so exciting because a whole new generation will discover John's music that way. I'm always trying to do something that will promote John's work in a new medium. It's very good that way, because kids should be exposed to and inspired by John's music.
Q: Yes, and obviously we all need to hear the message of "Give Peace a Chance" as much now as ever.
A: I know. Oh, I know. And "Imagine," too. "Imagine" is a very, very rebellious song, although I don't think I realized it at the time.
Q: Have you seen Julie Taymor's Beatles-related movie, "Across the Universe," that's slated for release next month?
A: No, not yet, although I did see a draft of it. I'm supposed to see it soon, though.
Q: May I ask you what you think of John's song, "All You Need Is Love," now being used as the soundtrack for a Luvs diapers television commercial?
A: Well, none of us knew about that, and we're all upset about it, actually. Maybe I'm acting too conservative, but it just doesn't seem right. And I think that Sony Music probably knew that we won't approve it, so they didn't bother to tell us about it. There was a debate about whether we'd put out a press release saying that we didn't know about it, but we decided that it was best to just leave it alone.
Q: Have you gone out to see any of these tribute bands, or is that just all too weird for you?
A: Well, there is a big Beatles show out in Las Vegas right now (Cirque du Soleil's "Love"), and we all went out there. So yes, some of them I do get out and see. And I'm sure that I'll get out to see "Across the Universe," too.
Q: Do you ever get out to see John's art exhibit when it travels to a new town?
A: In the beginning, that was a condition that they gave me. They used to say something like, "Well, if you're not going to be at the gallery to promote the opening then we're not going to do the exhibit." So I did go to a few of them.
But then I realized that the fact that I was there became a real media event, and it overshadowed John's artwork. And I don't want to do that to his show.
It's very good that John's show has this independent appeal to people now. It's very different now than the way that it used to be.
Yoko Ono talks about John Lennon's art, legacy
August 29, 2007
By Greg Haymes Albany Times Union
ALBANY, N.Y. — More than a quarter century after he was gunned down in 1980, this is turning out to be quite a landmark year for John Lennon.
Of course, it's the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' groundbreaking album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Cirque du Soleil's latest production, "Love" (featuring the reimagined and reproduced music of the Beatles), opened in Las Vegas at the end of June. And June also marked the release of the CD set "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur," featuring many of today's top pop and rock stars singing Lennon's most beloved songs.
Now, a traveling art exhibition features more than 100 of Lennon's artworks — rare original drawings, signed lithographs and limited-edition prints. It's called: "Come Together: The Artwork of John Lennon."
Lennon's widow and artistic collaborator Yoko Ono spoke from her Manhattan apartment in the Dakota about the Saratoga Springs exhibit, Lennon's art and his musical legacy:
Q: When John was making his art, was he working exclusively in black and white? Was it pen and ink on paper?
A: Yes, he worked mostly in pen and ink, although sometimes with the Asian brush, too. And sometimes, he just worked in pencil on paper. The reason was because he was just doing his art work whenever he could, whenever he felt like it. He would just grab a piece of paper and sketch something out.
Q: He worked fast?
A: Very fast, yes.
Q: Did he ever do any paintings?
A: Yes, he did. But you know, the paintings that he did were probably done before 1967. I think that he did very, very few paintings, and I don't have any of them. The major portion of his work was done in pen and ink.
Q: What artists did John admire?
A: He was a big fan of Magritte, for instance. And van Gogh, too, of course. Both of us really loved those two artists, so that's where we shared a real common bond. Magritte certainly exhibited a sense of humor and wit in his paintings, and I think that definitely appealed to John.
Q: Did John exhibit his artwork very often when he was alive?
A: Not really. He did one show of his "Bag One" lithographs at the London Arts Gallery in 1970, and they were confiscated immediately by Scotland Yard — which is so crazy, isn't it? I think that John just loved the drama of it, though.
And then there was one exhibit in New York City, and there was one more show in London called "You Are Here." It was kind of ignored by the critics, and John was expecting more, so he wasn't very happy about that. But that was it, really, as far as John's art exhibits.
Q: But now John's work is in the collection of prestigious art museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, isn't it?
A: Strangely enough, even with his fame and power and all that, he turned out to be like so many other important artists of the 20th century who could not get their work in a gallery while they were alive. It's amazing, isn't it?
Q: Was it a difficult task convincing galleries to show John's work?
A: Yes. In the beginning, it was very, very difficult for me to convince galleries to exhibit John's work. They'd say, "No, we don't do that," because he was a pop star. "We don't want to show the dabblings of a pop star, we exhibit art," they used to tell me. And then when they saw his work, they realized that it was something more than just dabbling. Even still, they were afraid for their reputation as a serious gallery to show John's drawings. It was like that.
Q: Since John's death, you've obviously spent a great deal of your time as the custodian of his work, both musically and artistically speaking.
A: Yes, yes, yes, and I'm very, very happy about that. It's my pleasure to do that, because if the shoe were on the other foot, so to speak — if John was here — he would have promoted my work, too, I'm sure. I just know that.
Q: What other Lennon legacy musical projects are coming up?
A: Well, all of John's albums are now available on iTunes for the first time now. Isn't that great?
Q: Do you have an iPod?
A: No, I don't actually. Everybody else around me has one, but me, I stick to the regular big computer for my music. Still, the whole concept is so exciting because a whole new generation will discover John's music that way. I'm always trying to do something that will promote John's work in a new medium. It's very good that way, because kids should be exposed to and inspired by John's music.
Q: Yes, and obviously we all need to hear the message of "Give Peace a Chance" as much now as ever.
A: I know. Oh, I know. And "Imagine," too. "Imagine" is a very, very rebellious song, although I don't think I realized it at the time.
Q: Have you seen Julie Taymor's Beatles-related movie, "Across the Universe," that's slated for release next month?
A: No, not yet, although I did see a draft of it. I'm supposed to see it soon, though.
Q: May I ask you what you think of John's song, "All You Need Is Love," now being used as the soundtrack for a Luvs diapers television commercial?
A: Well, none of us knew about that, and we're all upset about it, actually. Maybe I'm acting too conservative, but it just doesn't seem right. And I think that Sony Music probably knew that we won't approve it, so they didn't bother to tell us about it. There was a debate about whether we'd put out a press release saying that we didn't know about it, but we decided that it was best to just leave it alone.
Q: Have you gone out to see any of these tribute bands, or is that just all too weird for you?
A: Well, there is a big Beatles show out in Las Vegas right now (Cirque du Soleil's "Love"), and we all went out there. So yes, some of them I do get out and see. And I'm sure that I'll get out to see "Across the Universe," too.
Q: Do you ever get out to see John's art exhibit when it travels to a new town?
A: In the beginning, that was a condition that they gave me. They used to say something like, "Well, if you're not going to be at the gallery to promote the opening then we're not going to do the exhibit." So I did go to a few of them.
But then I realized that the fact that I was there became a real media event, and it overshadowed John's artwork. And I don't want to do that to his show.
It's very good that John's show has this independent appeal to people now. It's very different now than the way that it used to be.
