At 70, artist Yoko Ono says: Give art a chance Widow of John Lennon to speak at Portland

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On Sunday, Yoko Ono – artist, composer, performer and wife of Beatles legend John Lennon – will deliver the commencement address at Maine College of Art in Portland. Born in 1933 in Tokyo, Ono studied philosophy before moving to America and participating in the Fluxus art movement in New York City. She was well established as a conceptual artist when she met Lennon and began collaborating with him.

Their 1969 performance art piece “Bed-Ins for Peace” is among the most famous artistic endeavors, not to mention media events, in the peace movement of that time. Ono, who has complained about not being taken seriously as an artist and who has been sharply criticized for her approach to art, was given a major retrospective of her work by the Japan Society in New York in 2000. The show toured nationally and won the U.S. Art Critics Association Best Museum Show. Her most recent installation, “Freight Train,” opened in New York in February. MECA asked Ono to speak this year because of her long-standing interest in world peace as a subject for art. I spoke earlier this week with Ono by phone. She was in California and, although the interview lasted only 10 minutes, Ono was friendly, pleasant and cheerful.

Alicia Anstead: Why did you decide to speak at the Maine College of Art?

Yoko Ono: They asked me to, and I felt that this is a very important time to speak to young artists. It’s a very tense time in society, and artists are questioning their role. It’s an important time to encourage artists.

Anstead: What is the role of artists in society?

Ono: There are two things in a society. One is war industry. One is peace industry. Unless the peace industry becomes much larger than the war industry, we’ll never have peace in the world. For the betterment of the society and the future of ourselves and our children, I think we should promote the peace industry, and artists are one of the most important elements in that.

Anstead: When you were a young woman studying philosophy, who most influenced your thoughts?

Ono: The whole world. The history of the human race really affected me.

Anstead: The concept of “give peace a chance” has been central to your career. Will we ever, as a society, give peace a chance?

Ono: Of course we will.

Anstead: Have you been discouraged by recent events in Iraq?

Ono: In some ways, yes. We’re all human so we get discouraged and depressed. I don’t like to see people and children, especially, getting killed for no reason. But my feeling is that this is a time of dialogue and we have a lot to learn. Through our wisdom, I think we will survive it, and we will better our society.

Anstead: Are you a hopeful person?

Ono: I’m very optimistic. My optimism is based on realism, and the only choice we have is to be optimistic and make it well. If we can’t make it well, we’re doomed to destruction and the fall of the human race. Well, that will happen probably. But we can at least try not to make it happen.

Anstead: Your art has embraced feminist ideas. Was it hard for you to be in the shadow of a legendary husband?

Ono: I was more concerned about the everyday life that I was leading. We were very much in love, and I was interested in the environment that was giving me so much inspiration. I was creating a lot, and I was more concerned about my creative activities.

Anstead: Do you feel you are getting the right critical attention for you work now?

Ono: It’s maybe better now. I do get requests to do shows in galleries, and those are good platforms. But in the early days, we underground artists were snobs in our own way, and it felt like it was much better to do it on the street. When I first got a call from a museum, I found myself being extremely resistant toward it. But then I said: “I shouldn’t be like that. It’s a different time, a different period in my life. So it’s all right to be accepted. Don’t be afraid about being accepted.”

Anstead: The Fluxus movement that you have been associated with uses nontraditional materials. Was the media “material” in your work?

Ono: Oh definitely. When I got together with John I realized there was a lot of media play and that could be used for communication as well, and therefore “Bed-Ins,” etc. But before that, I was doing things in Trafalgar Square with a bag over my head. There were many different types of performances I was doing mainly going through the media to communicate to people. In that way, media was very important.

Anstead: Are you saying that you didn’t separate the art from your own personality?

Ono: Yes.

Anstead: What message do you have for artists today?

Ono: Right now I am promoting the concept called “Imagine Peace.” I have posters, and I’ll bring that to Maine.

Anstead: What is your favorite of John’s songs?

Ono: I am going to say “Imagine,” not because it’s my favorite song but because it just came into my head because of “Imagine Peace.” There are many songs of John’s that I love very much. It’s difficult to say one.

Anstead: Do you listen to them much?

Ono: Especially now, I do listen to them much because of being responsible for taking care of them.

Anstead: Have you ever been to Maine?

Ono: I was there a couple of times with John. We were driving up the coast and he said, “Why don’t we hit Maine as well?” It was so beautiful we thought, “Why don’t we get a summer house here?” We were impressed with Maine because there’s something so quietly beautiful and clean.

Anstead: Is there anything else you want to tell the people of Maine?

Ono: I’m very excited about being there, and I hope something very positive will unfold itself.