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In the middle of a dream

Sharing John Lennon's art is a labor of love for Yoko Ono

By GINA VIVINETTO
Published March 13, 2005

Yoko Ono has been an influence in the art world since the 1960s, when she and composer John Cage were members of the avant-garde Fluxus movement in New York.

Ono, 72, is just as passionate about the artwork of her late husband, John Lennon. As she has done for the past 10 years, Ono is hosting exhibits of the former Beatle's drawings in cities across the nation. "When I'm Sixty Four: The Artwork of John Lennon," a three-day show featuring work Lennon created between 1968 and 1980, arrives at Tampa's Hard Rock Cafe on Friday.

Ono says she has noticed Lennon's art has a particularly strong impact on young people. That pleases her.

"When people come (to the exhibits) with their children, the children get very excited," Ono said by telephone from New York. "It stimulates them and inspires them. Children get very excited by art."

"But, also I think some teenagers and kids in their early 20s who are thinking maybe they would like to be artists, but they don't know what to do about it - they look at John's work and think, "I can do something like this!' They need to recognize they have these kinds of talents.

"People are going to see that the creative arts are the way to go. Probably in the 1960s, parents all said, "Learn to play the guitar.' Now I think it's art."

Lennon, Ono says, became interested in art as a grade schooler. "Art came first, actually," she says. "And, he was so talented.

"His talent was so obvious, a teacher at school told him, "Well, you have no hopes of going anywhere except art school,' " Ono says, laughing.

Ono says she wishes Lennon could have played with all the new technologies she's been enjoying. "That's one thing John grabbed onto," Ono says. "He was always excited by the newest medium."

Last year's copyright infringement uproar over DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Album was not lost on Ono, whose roots, after all, have always been in underground music. To entertain friends, the New York-based deejay burned discs on which he fused the music of the Beatles' White Album with rap lyrics from Jay-Z's The Black Album creating, essentially, an entirely new piece of music.

The Grey Album sparked debate about artistic assimilation, the nature of theft and the definition of art.

I asked Ono to speculate how she thought Lennon would feel about Danger Mouse's sampling his music to create "new" art.

"I think that conceptually, John would like the idea, the freedom of it, and of the art," Ono says. "But at the same time, John did copyright all of his work.

"Also, when he made his work, he was very astute about exactly how he wanted it, down to every beat and every note. So, I think he would not have liked it."

Ono says she feels differently about musicians' sampling her own music.

"I would be happy if Danger Mouse used mine," she says. "But using my music and using the Beatles' music is two very different things.

"John's music was circulating all over the world. And still is. He didn't have to feel like, "Well, we have to circulate it that way,' " Ono says.

Ono took the safe route last summer, retooling her own composition, when she rerecorded Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him (from 1980's Double Fantasy). To comment on the brouhaha over gay marriage during last year's presidential election, Ono changed the song's lyrics to Every Man Has A Man Who Loves Him. (Ono later recorded a female-only version.) The song rushed to the top of Billboard's dance chart.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

Gina Vivinetto is a Times staff writer and a member of the Artillery, an artists collective in St. Petersburg.

"When I'm Sixty Four: The Artwork of John Lennon," 5 p.m.-9 p.m., Friday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. March 20 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, 5223 Orient Rd. (off I-4 at N Orient Road exit), Tampa. (888) ART-1969. $2 donations. Proceeds go to the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund.

[Last modified March 13, 2005, 00:23:15]