John & Yoko

Yoko Ono
8.5"x11", markers on paper, 2014

The source for the two drawings presented here is the same photograph in which the illustrious couple is divided by an American flag. Separated here in two drawings to represent Ono's song Air Male (1970) from the Fly album recorded with Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band and Helter Skelter (1967) from the Beatles' White Album which was actually written by Paul McCartney. I made the drawings last night experimenting with a new set of designer markers my wife gave me as a present. Yoko was the first drawing I did with these markers, and it's better than John's who came second. The American flag in the iconic photograph of the two is actually an art work by Ono and the stars of the flag are represented by skulls, the stripes are lines of texts, political anti-American statements. I played a small part earlier this year in the preparations for the Yoko Ono exhibit Imagine Peace at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery. The videos in the show and the lectures accompanying it were to me the most interesting part of the exhibition.

John Lennon
8.5"x11", markers on paper, 2014

  

33 ⅓

Yoko Ono
11" x 8.5", 2013
watercolor on paper

John Cage
11" x 8.5", 2013
watercolor, pen on paper

33 ⅓ is the title of a composition by John Cage. It's not a composition in the traditional sense of composition, it's in fact more of a conceptual art piece than it is a musical composition. In it are 12 turntables that are to be played simultaneously. The composition involves audience participation. The audience is the performer of the piece. 33 ⅓ refers to the speed in which records are to be played on the turntables, the turntables are set to 33 ⅓ rpm. In 2012, the 100th anniversary of John Cage's birth, I was one of the performers in an installation of the piece at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Edison State College in Fort Myers. The piece is right up my alley: As the source material for the composition "guest curators" were invited to submit 10 records of their choice, a sort of top 10 of their favorite records. These guest curators included David Byrne, Lee Ranaldo, Yoko Ono, Mike Kelley, Iggy Pop, Pauline Oliveros, Meredith Monk, John Baldessari, Vito Acconci, Joan la Barbara, James Rosenquist, Matthew Barney, William Wegman, Ed Ruscha, Richie Ramone, Brian Ferry, Blixa Bargeld, and Jack White, indeed a who's who of art art and music. David Byrne's selection consisted of all spoken word recordings, while Yoko Ono selected only records involving herself, her late husband John Lennon, and her son Sean Ono Lennon. I had a blast browsing through the records of these luminaries and playing out my heart's content. When it was all said and done, the turntables silenced, the piece finished (for the day), I made a top 10 of the records I played that night. Air Male by Yoko Ono and the Plastic One Band was the number one on my list. 

The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever: 7-Yoko Ono