{"id":3962,"date":"2023-05-02T13:15:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T18:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diluo.digital.conncoll.edu\/Asianart\/?p=3962"},"modified":"2023-05-11T21:28:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T02:28:00","slug":"ono-yoko-japanese-female-activist-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diluo.digital.conncoll.edu\/Asianart\/exhibition\/ono-yoko-japanese-female-activist-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Ono Y\u014dko: Japanese, Female, Activist, Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Which is she first?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Yoko Ono at her 1967 exhibition Yoko Ono: Half-A-Wind Show<\/em>. Lisson Gallery, London. Toronto Star.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Who is Yoko Ono? Is she the wife of legendary British musician John Lennon? Is she a Japanese woman? Is she a peace activist? Is she an artist? She is all of the above. Without one of these identities, there is no Yoko Ono. The question that persists, though, is how did her Japan-ness in America shape\/influence her work? Japan-ness is defined by the judgments and selections of societies outside of Japan, specifically Western societies. The external gaze is what gives meaning to Japan-ness and the aesthetics that are associated with it (Isozaki 3). In society\u2019s eyes, Ono is different\u2014 she is Japanese. In Ono\u2019s eyes, she is Japanese\u2014 she is herself. Through the analysis of five works, this essay will explore Yoko\u2019s cross-cultural perspective, the complexity of her multiple identities, and the ways in which she removes all context to just be<\/em>. Her work is not always meant to critique or deconstruct institutionally traditional aesthetics; such ideological concerns and concepts are secondary to Ono\u2019s main interest which is to establish meaning within the medium (Yoshimoto 80). Yoko Ono may be a revolutionary, but she did not reach that status without ridicule, isolation, criticism, and failure. Despite the discrimination and rejection Yoko faced, she maintained the singularity of her own artistic vision through decades of performances, prose, songs, and artwork. While some of the works discussed in this essay proved to be successful, others fell flat, perhaps because her atypical Japanese identity takes precedence over her artistry, drawing more attention to her inherently condemned reputation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before a visual analysis of Ono\u2019s selected works can occur, the stage must be set. Yoko Ono, born Ono Y\u014dko, is arguably the most notable figurehead of conceptual and performance art. Born in Tokyo in 1933, the Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist is known for her contributions to the avant-garde artistic community. From a young age, Ono wrote poetry and plays, studied composition, and received classical voice\/music training. She was the first woman admitted to the philosophy program at Gakush\u016bin University in Tokyo. Ono not only completed many years of rigorous, elite education but also survived the WWII Allied bombings of Tokyo in 1945 (Grove Art). It was this experience that shaped her groundbreaking artistic vision and voice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ono is known for showcasing works that imaginatively encourage and often require interactive participation. A prime example of this is her piece titled, Painting to Be Stepped On<\/em>, completed between 1960 and 1961. Four years later, Ono performed Cut Piece<\/em> (1964), an act during which she sat passively while audience members used scissors to cut off her clothing. This work was ultimately recognized as a \u201clandmark of feminist art\u201d as it alluded to sexual violence and the female power struggle. Then, in 1972, Ono had her controversial debut in Chuck Berry and John Lennon\u2019s live duet performance of \u201cMemphis, Tennessee\u201d on The Mike Douglas Show. Her role in this performance felt ill-timed and unnecessary. By 2013, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt displayed 200 of Ono\u2019s works in an impressive retrospective. One of these works, Ceiling Painting, Yes Painting<\/em>, was shown at her gallery in London in 1966. Two years later, the Museum of Modern Art presented its first (official) exhibition dedicated exclusively to Yoko Ono\u2019s works titled, Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960-1971<\/em>. The exhibition explored the many issues Ono confronted such as gender, class, and cultural identity all through the lens of her bold commitment to promoting world peace. One of the pieces in the show, titled Apple<\/em>(an apple sitting on a plexiglass pedestal), was given its own room\u2026 perhaps another superfluous decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ono has produced an innumerable amount of work over the course of her artistic career, but these selected works not only reflect the nature of Ono\u2019s many different identities but also disrupt the confines of traditional conceptual art. When asked if she could recall the first piece of art she ever made, Y\u014dko said, \u201cI remember, when we were evacuated during the war, my brother was really unhappy and depressed and really hungry because we did not have very much food. So I said, \u2018OK, let\u2019s make a menu together. What kind of dinner would you like?\u2019 And, he said, \u2018Ice cream.\u2019 So, I said, \u2018Good, let\u2019s imagine our ice cream dinner.\u2019 And, we did, and he started to look happy. So, I realized even then that just through imagining, we can be happy. So we had our conceptual dinner, and this is maybe my first piece of art\u201d (The New York Times).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1: Yoko Ono, Painting to Be Stepped On<\/em>, 1960\/61. Cut canvas. Installation view, Paintings & Drawings by Yoko Ono<\/em>, AG Gallery, New York, 1961. Photo by George Maciunas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although the imaginary ice cream dinner never materialized, Ono\u2019s desire to find a new\/unusual purpose for rolled canvas came to life. In one of her earliest works, Painting to Be Stepped On<\/em>, Ono cut a piece of canvas not to stretch it but to place on the floor for people to step on. Rather than conform to the usual function of stretching canvas, Ono invented a new one, undermining the \u201cfine art\u201d status of painting (Yoshimoto 87).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That work, like a lot of Marcel Duchamp\u2019s, might seem gimmicky. But, like Duchamp\u2019s, Ono left more to unpack. Painting to Be Stepped On<\/em> resonates with two traditions. It alludes to the well-known practices of Jackson Pollock as he created his classic drip paintings. Pollock was often photographed walking across canvases spread out on the floor without a care in the world, leaving boot prints and cigarette butts. Those photographs represent painting as performance, just as Ono sought to do in her work. The second context of Painting to Be Stepped On<\/em>, identified by the art historian Alexandra Munroe, is Japanese. In seventeenth-century Japan, Christians were persecuted. One of the ways in which Christians were identified was by asking them to step on images of Jesus and Mary. This procedure was called fumi-e<\/em>which translates to \u201cstepping on.\u201d People who refused to step on such images were ultimately tortured or even executed (The New Yorker). Here the work\u2019s intrinsic Japan-ness comes to light: Ono used historical evidence of Japanese Christians fearing and refusing to step on images to argue that even viewers today will also fear and refuse to step on images, even if the image is no more than just a piece of raw canvas. People will hesitate before adhering to abnormal and uncomfortable instructions, a dead giveaway of Ono\u2019s artistic character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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