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YES Yoko Ono 
News:

IK's Experience At
Walker Opening, Pt.I

IK's Experience At
Walker Opening, Pt.II

Press Conference
March 9

Keri's Story

A New Journal Designed For This Exhibit

Related Events Opening Weekend

Early Walker Center News

Japan Society News Release

YES Yoko Ono Book

YES YOKO ONO -
Opening Weekend Events
By Phil Biebl

Phil Biebl   Kevin Grohskopf  Play It By Trust  in the lobby store at the Walker  After Hours Party Photo by Keri Wilson  Click Picture  for Bigger View

Kevin Grohskopf and I drove to Minneapolis this past Friday to attend the official opening of Yoko Ono's retrospective at the Walker Art Center. The show was titled 'YES' and it was promoted as being the FIRST major retrospective of Yoko's work ever in this country.

I feel as if I waited 30 years for this. I remember reading about Yoko Ono way back in 1968 when she made the news as the Japanese artist who was being referred to as John Lennon's new girlfriend. She was always called an 'avant garde artist' and even way back then, I wondered what her art was like.

It wasn't long before various publications printed bits and pieces about Yoko's conceptual art. ("Con" art!) Generally, the press was CONdescending, but from the start I was intrigued by her work. It fascinated me and made me think.

And all these years later, it still does!

Yoko's art was always such a big part of the John & Yoko legend. It was, after all, at Yoko's exhibition at the Indica Art Gallery in London in Nov. 1966 that John met Yoko. And it was because of her work that the two of them 'connected.' I've always loved the story about how John climbed the white ladder in the Indica gallery that day, and how with the help of a magnifying glass, he was able to see what Yoko had written in teeny, tiny letters on the huge white canvas attached to the ceiling: YES. ---- And how it was supposedly at THAT moment that John fell for Yoko (luckily falling for Yoko and not off the ladder!).

And now all these years later, to see this actual ladder and the teeny, tiny YES still on that ceiling canvas was, for me, a very profound experience. --- Funny too, in a way that Yoko herself might even have found amusing. At the Walker, they had young a woman hired to stand guard over the ladder, etc. She was there to prevent people from actually climbing the ladder. Kevin and I enjoyed her response to the most frequently asked questions that were directed to her: "What does it say on that canvas up there? And can we climb up and see?" To which she'd reply: "It says YES. I say NO!"

But I'm jumping ahead.

Back to the beginning of our Minneapolis 'adventure.' --- Yoko's retrospective was scheduled to open to the public on Saturday, March 10. The opening on Friday night was after hours (from 9 PM till midnight) and was restricted to members of the Walker Art Center. Knowing all this when we first heard about this show, I checked into becoming a member of the Walker and the next thing you know, Kevin and I are members (a 'family' rate membership!). So, we got tickets to the Friday opening, as well as tickets for the lecture/concert that Yoko would be giving that Saturday afternoon.

And suddenly after waiting all these years to see an actual show of Yoko's work, we were going. (I do believe that all dreams come true ... if one waits long enough!)

Kevin and I both took the whole day off on that Friday, so we had plenty of time to get to Minneapolis. We had a map, a hotel lined up, and tickets to YES. Everything we needed! --- We found our hotel very easily. It had been recommended to us by Marsha Ewing, a person I've long considered to be a cherished friend ... even though Marsha and I had never met face-to-face. Marsha created a wonderful fan magazine called 'Instant Karma' after John was murdered, and I was a long-time subscriber to that magazine. We kept in touch over the years but somehow our paths had never crossed .... until this past weekend!

After checking into the hotel, Kevin and I decided to take a little walk to see how far away the Walker Art Center was. It turned out that the museum was within  walking distance ... on a GOOD day. But what we also discovered was that Minneapolis had been fighting a losing battle with build-ups of ice and snow on their sidewalks and so just walking a few blocks was challenging. It was so bad that I kept saying Minneapolis gave new meaning to the song "Walking On Thin Ice."

Ahhhhh. But we did find the Walker Art Center and went inside just to get a preview of what would be in store for us later that evening. The first thing we noticed was a HUGE black 'n white banner hung outside the building which showed Yoko in a seated position with the words YES above her. And the dates of the exhibition.  It's such a striking image---taken from Yoko's 'Cut Piece' event---that my heart skipped a beat when we saw it. It was seeing that giant image of Yoko on the side of the building that REALLY made me realize "We Are HERE"!!!  We went inside and immediately noticed the 'WAR IS OVER' billboard that filled one whole wall. This was the entrance to Yoko's retrospective. Kevin and I then left and made our way back to the hotel (slipping 'n sliding all the way). Smiling.

Back in the room, we phoned Marsha and her husband Tom and they invited us up before we'd all go back to the Walker for the 9 p.m. Preview Party. Marsha and Tom (and another Yoko fan from Kentucky, Keri Wilson) had all attended a press conference that Yoko had given earlier that afternoon at the Walker. Thanks to the miracles of the modern age (!) Marsha showed us lots of digital photos that she had taken at the press conference. So, we knew for sure that Yoko was THERE. We kept our fingers crossed that Yoko would be attending the Preview Party that night too.

Kevin and I walked back to the Walker and made sure we were there by 9 p.m. The place was packed. Wall to wall. We couldn't get over it. I couldn't help but think that Yoko's art --- much of which had originated from her personal feelings of loneliness and isolation --- suddenly was finding appreciation, understanding and acceptance. And on such a large scale too! Throughout the evening, Kevin and I witnessed so many people smiling at various pieces that were displayed. Nodding the nod of understanding. YES. --- I couldn't help but think back to what my dad used to say about Yoko's work: "And they call THAT art????" and realize that while Yoko had perhaps once been ahead of her time, well, her time had obviously arrived!

There were hundreds and hundreds of attendees. And a very diverse crowd too. There were little kids and senior citizens and everything in between. All seeming to be smiling and having a great time. There were so many people there that at one point we heard that Yoko herself was among the crowd ... but we never saw her. Too  many people!

There were also several displays of Yoko-related merchandise featuring an assortment of things you  could buy (i.e. the YES book; the newly published Grapefruit book; CDs of Yoko's music; a gorgeous color poster for the show which was a photograph of a green apple on a pedestal; and a cool little booklet that Yoko produced especially for this YES retrospective: A book where you could draw maps of your dreams!  I bought several of those too. Hey, I have a LOT of dreams!!)

Along with the merchandise, Kevin and I also grabbed a couple of cocktails (they were even featuring a Yoko-inspired martini that night. Hot pink in color! And lots of people were ordering those.)

Waiters were carrying around trays of hors d'oeuvres and there were giant bowls of nuts all around the lobby area too. Something for everybody.  There were so many people that we doubted whether we would be able to find Marsha, Tom and Keri ... but amazingly we ran
into them right away. There they were, standing right in front of the Wish Tree. We chatted (shmooozed!) and decided that we'd better add a wish to the tree while we had the chance. Because the party had just begun, the Wish Tree was relatively 'undecorated' at this point. The tree itself was quite large (much bigger than I'd imagined it to be) and was so fresh, and green (YES, it was real!) that just seeing it made one forget the ice and snow and cold outside for a moment. 

(Above: Yoko tries out AMAZE before Phil and Kevin on Friday
afternoon. Photos © 2001 Keri Wilson)

White cardboard tags with string attached were displayed next to the tree
along with pencils and the instruction to add a wish to the tree.  Only a few people had added wishes at this point, but as the night progressed, there were more and more wishes 'growing' on the tree (and by the next day, when we came back to the gallery for Yoko's lecture, we noticed that the Wish Tree was bursting with wishes! It was a beautiful sight. As if the tree had burst into blossom. --- It was fun to sneak a peek at the various wishes people had tied to the tree. Some of them were so practical ("I wish our home addition project would be finished.") while others were sad ("I wish the cancer would disappear") while still others were humorous ("I wish this tree were outside!"). What was my wish? I wrote "I wish I would remember this exact moment for the rest of my life." So far, my wish is coming true!!

Standing by the tree, we noticed that there were two all-white chess sets on display in the lobby too. So stark and eerie. Yoko titled this piece "Play It By Trust" and Kevin noticed a small sign that said everyone was invited to actually sit down and play the game. Sooooooooo, we did! We were the first people to have the guts (gall?!) to do this. A lot of people stared (thinking perhaps that "They shouldn't be doing that!") but we noticed later that we'd started something because more and more people were sitting down and trying to play the game. --- We'd forgotten a camera, so we asked Keri is she'd take a picture of Kevin and I 'playing it by trust.'

The actual YES exhibit is downstairs and as the lobby was getting so crowded, we decided we'd better head down to see the show. It turned out to be equally crowded downstairs too. People everywhere. But real party atmosphere prevailed. Everyone was smiling and seemingly enjoying the humor that is so obvious in many of Yoko's works. The first thing we encountered downstairs was a huge white 'canvas' with a round hole cut out of the middle. Extended from this hole was a person's hand. The hand was continually gesturing so Kevin and I both had to stop to shake the hand! So strange. To shake the hand of someone you can't see! And of course we had to peek around the back of the canvas to see who was sitting back there! (A woman who was taking her 'job' VERY seriously!!)

Then we moved into a room which a sign explained was the 'Fanciful Fluxus Fashions' room. Inside the room were tables and chairs, filled with people who were creating colorful construction-paper 'fashions' to wear to the exhibition. It was so funny to see all these adults (and kids) sitting around, working so hard on their creations. 

Kevin got into the spirit of the event and set about designing a narrow collar/choker thing for me made out of glittery gold paper. Adding this collar to the dark suit I was wearing resulted in me looking a little like a priest! Well, maybe MORE than a little because I realized the rest of the night that wherever we went, people stared (and believe me, to be stared at at a Yoko Ono exhibition, you've GOTTA stand out!!!). Later in the evening a woman came up to me and said that she'd seen me several times during the night and wanted to know if I really was a minister! She said I looked like a priest from the Church of Wild & Crazy!!

When we entered the actual exhibition area, there were three huge stone bowls on display. The middle one was filled with small smooth black stones. The bowls on one side of this was marked JOYS / the bowl on the other side was marked SORROWS. Each person was invited to take a stone from the middle bowl and place it into one of the others, depending on what one was feeling in their hearts. I thought this was fascinating (and I'm gonna try recreating this on a small scale  here). Kevin and I both added stones to the JOYS pile. Periodically throughout the night, we checked to see which bowl was 'winning.' Amazingly, it was pretty evenly matched each time we looked. (But the next day when we got there, the JOYS bowl was practically over-flowing / while the SORROWS bowl was had only a few stones left in it. Hmmmmm. Something seemed a bit fishy! I think those 'votes' had been tampered with overnight!!!! (But no one was demanding a recount!) --- Back to Friday night: Later on, I did end up contributing one stone to the SORROW bowl. That was after we heard that Yoko had been there ... and that we'd missed her. Now THAT'S sad.

The exhibiton itself was overwhelming. There was just so much to see. We were like two kids in a candy store: "Lookatthat!" "WOW!" "This is SO cool!" "YES!" Even though each room was crowded that evening, the power of Yoko's work was still in full-force. Power in simplicity. One piece that moved me was a giant square piece of clear plexiglass that was suspended from the ceiling with two small chains. Etched into the lower part of the plexiglass were the words 'Painting to let the evening light shine through.' (And the description next to the work said that this was to be hung in front of a window to let the actual evening light shine through.) Ahhhhh, be still my beating heart! That is just so beautiful!

(Hammer A Nail 
Photo By Marsha Ewing)

I also loved seeing the Hammer-A-Nail piece. This was another of the works that Yoko had shown in London back in 1966, at the Indica show where she met John. Here was 'history.' The white board with attached hammer hanging from a chain, and the nails pounded in from all those years ago (we know that John hammered in an imaginary nail that night. Still, I looked for it!) --- In another room, we found a revised 'Hammer-A-Nail' piece that Yoko had produced many years later. It was the same theme, except this time the hammer was made out of the most thin, delicate clear glass and the 'canvas' that you were supposed to hammer your nail into was made of thick, heavy STEEL!

Many of Yoko's works confound the eye (and mind!) by using materials that confuse your mind. Kevin and I both loved her 'Keys to Open the Skies,' which was four delicate clear glass keys.


One of the highlights for me was to see one of the  first-edition copies of Yoko's Grapefruit book. I'd heard for 3 years that Yoko had produced this book back in 1964 in a very limited edition (500) and I'd always wanted to see what one looked like. And there it was.

Many of Yoko's films were being shown continually throughout the evening. We'd lost Marsha, Tom and Keri to the crowds earlier that night, but found out later that they'd went into one of the screening rooms to see RAPE. 

Kevin and I found ourselves watching bits of Yoko's famous BOTTOMS film (365 naked butts!) (Everyone seemed to laugh when they exited THAT room! I ran into one woman who was shaking here head and couldn't resist saying to her, "It's a good one to rent.") We also watched a bit of FLY and I got Kevin laughing when I told him to go take a look at the movie titled ERECTION. It wasn't at ALL what he thought it was gonna be (tee hee!).

There was so much to see that we knew we'd have to come back early the next day to see it all. And so around 11 PM, we headed back to our hotel. Smiling.

Yoko's lecture was scheduled to begin at 2 PM. We had been told that it was a sell-out so we knew we wanted to get there early in order to get a good seat. We arrived at the Walker about noon and decided to spend some quality time seeing the exhibit again (before the crowds descended once more). 

This time, Kevin and I were able to view everything so much closer and with less distraction. We were able to walk through the giant clear glass maze (AMAZE) which was so much fun. Kevin and I were joined by one of the Walker security guards while we were in the maze and the three of us tried to find our way to the center together. And this is the best part: When we finally DID reach the goal --- which turned out to be a toilet!! --- the three of us stood around the bowl (which is surreal itself when you think about it!) and Kevin lifted the lid to the toilet, saying he wondered if Yoko had left any secret messages inside. Well, right on cue, we heard a voice saying something like "Report to the front desk" and Kevin and I were taken aback by hearing the voice. We started to laugh until the security guard interrupted us to say "Hey, that's my beeper! Not Yoko!!!" -- Yoko would've loved it!)

We were captivated by Yoko's work. It challenges the mind, and stirs the heart, and sometimes makes you laugh right out loud. My three favorite ingredients.

By 1 PM, we went back upstairs and joined Marsha, Tom and Keri again
to get in line for the lecture. As we waited, we noticed Kyoko inside the gallery shop. It was so good to see here there, and amusing to see her shopping! She had been there all weekend and I was happy knowing that she and Yoko had been reunited after so many years of separation. Anyway, luckily, we were among the first to start lining up for the lecture so when the doors were opened, we were able to get in the front row.

Yoko was introduced promptly at 2 and entered to great applause. She sat down in front of a coffee table on which were arranged an assortment of white tea pots. She picked up the first one, held it up to the audience and showed us that there was a huge hole in the bottom. "This is not usable ... so it must be ART." From that second, she'd won me over. She was so funny throughout her presentation. I realized that I couldn't stop from grinning.

And you should see her! She just turned 68 in February, but I swear that she looks HALF that age. She was so trim and energetic and youthful. An inspiration. She makes you feel good just looking at her! She was dressed all in black, including that infamous 'bowling shirt' with the name Dennis stitched in white on the front pocket area. (This is the shirt she was wearing when Kevin and I saw her as part of the Rising concert tour in Chicago several years ago.)

She didn't slow down for the entire time she was onstage. She'd be answering questions one minute, rolling around inside a black, stretchy bag the next. Screaming her heart out ("It's Time For Action") to accompany an impressionistic video, and telling stories throughout. She captivated us. One and all. The crowd gave her a standing ovation when she was through.

And a smile.

YES.

It was a weekend we'll not forget. And I have a WISH 'planted' on the Wish Tree to ensure that!