Yoko Ono Behind the Controversies - Essay Example

Full Yoko Ono Behind the Controversies Yoko Ono is perhaps one of the most controversial Asian personalities in themodern era not only for her artistic works but most especially for her personal life. She is a celebrated image but she is also one of the most hated personalities because of her relationship with the famous Beatle singer, John Lennon. There are so many controversies this artist has been through but she is also known as a musician, an artist and an advocate of world peace, the last perhaps as an influence of her childhood experience and her cultural background.

This paper aims to show both sides of the story in the life of Yoko Ono, discovering who she really is as a person, an artist and an activist. Yoko Ono was born in Japan to Eisuke and Isoko, a wealthy couple who owned banks in the country (biography.com). Known to have given up his love for music, Ono’s father encouraged her and hoped that she will become the performer he always wanted to be (Iley). Eventually, Ono grew up to become not only as a musician but a visual artist as well. Critiques say she is a fake because she does not really have artistic elements in her work (biographychannel.co.uk).

Rather, her works are often abstract and whitish. Still, she had quite a quiet but successful career earlier in her life. Her artworks are said to have succeeded due to the influence and help of her second husband, Anthony Cox, a musician with whom she had a daughter. However, their relationship did not do so well and it ended in separation which eventually separated Ono with her daughter as well. On her own, Ono portayed herself as a radical artist with her presentation “Cut Piece” in 1964 and 1965 in Japan and Carnegie Hall in New York, respectively.

She claims she did this in her anger to what was happening around the world and she acted on her beliefs about piece through her expression of art, the “Cut Piece”. This is the reason why she is also known to be an advocate of world peace. Most of her artworks directly speak to her audiences about being at peace with each other. For instance, in “Cut Piece” she is advocating the discard of materialism (wordpress.com, biography.com) which becomes the driving force for envy, greed and chaos to arise.

As a musician, Ono became more active and famous when she got married to her famous husband John Lennon of the Beatles. This relationship called much attention and hatred towards Ono because she has been blamed to be unfit for Lennon, even pointed as the reason for the splitting of the group (Flint). The couple released their own songs and albums until the birth of their only son in 1975. However, their music was considered to be simplistic and Ono seems to have been blamed for all the negative comments involving her husband whose music was once enjoyed by many people.

When Lennon was about to release his comeback album, he was shot by a deranged fan in the presence of his wife. Although Lennon’s life was unexpectedly cut short, Ono makes him alive through her artworks. She continues to include the fallen musician in her arts, remembering him as her ally to world peace. Already in her 80’s Ono continues her life of arts, making an impact in her cry for world peace which ironically is causing so many criticisms towards her as a person and an artist. References Iley, Chrissy.

“Yoko Ono: John’s affair wasn’t hurtful to me. I needed a rest. I needed space”. The Telegraph. 2012. Web. February 8, 2014. . Flint, Hanna. “Yoko Ono Receives Birthday Greetings from Around the World as She Marks 80th Birthday in Berlin with her Son Sean”. MailOnline. 2013. Web. February 7, 2014. . n.a. “Yoko Ono Biography”. AETN UK. 2011. Web. February 8, 2014. . n.a. “Yoko Ono: Bigraphy”. A+E Networks. 2014. Web. February 7, 2014. . n.a. “Yoko Ono Cut Piece”. The Coraline Theme. 2007. Web. .