Paul Morley
‘Love Magic Power Danger Bliss: Yoko Ono and the Avant-Garde Diaspora’
Book Review
At last, a must read, in depth book that places Yoko Ono as a pioneering avant-garde artist rather than just John Lennon’s wife, partner in crime, ‘muse’ and tabloid folk devil who split up the Beatles.
Yoko Ono must be one of the most famous and yet least understood figures in pop culture. For decades, her whole existence has been framed by her role in the Beatles’ endgame and by her relationship with John Lennon. Both were key narratives in the late sixties meltdown and both were complex love stories in their own ways that saw her central stage bringing her fame and fortune, but almost zero spotlight on her own artfulness.
Paul Morley’s magnificent new book reassesses this well worn story and unzips it inside out whilst taking a deep dive behind the mythological ballad of John and Yoko. For once, it tells the story from Yoko’s point of view and in typical Morley style, it goes in deep and follows every thread and every idea in endless intoxicating rabbit holes that makes for a captivating exploration of a brilliant conceptual artist whilst exploring the post war art underground that she existed in and its cause and effect on the mainstream.
This is the Yoko Ono who grew up in the higher echelons of society in postwar Japan, trying to make sense of itself. A Yoko who went to the same exclusive school as Yukio Mishima and was then part of the Fluxus movement and a respected conceptual artist in the avant-garde diaspora in sixties New York City. A Yoko who was already a key figure on the art underground before she was cast into the spotlight by her relationship with Beatle John.
This Yoko is closer to the provocative Pop Art of Warhol or the Velvets or international artists like Nam June Paik and George Maciunas. She was a creator of thought provoking pop art, which intrigued the ever restless Lennon, who was instantly intrigued by her fearless artfulness that reconnected to his rebel soul.
Yoko and post war art underground is a long story that makes for a huge book but the writing is, as ever, riveting and the connections and ideas make you feel full of intrigue and wonder. This is a deep dive that takes you into the art of the art of darkness of the 20th century with Yoko as your avatar.
A major work on a misunderstood figure, this book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand just how and why post war art took the trip that it did and how one of its key figures confounded the mainstream.
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