Acclaim at last

A ladder, a magnifying glass, a three-letter word and the
audience’s participation. Despite the complexity of the time,
and the obscurity of her medium, it was all the wild-haired artist
needed to make her message clear.

The year was 1966, and in a small London gallery, artist Yoko
Ono invited the world to climb up her ladder and read the tiny word
printed on the ceiling: “Yes.”

Now almost 40 years later, the artist who may be best known as
the widow of John Lennon, continues to follow her own advice. With
an ever-positive and productive response to life, the 70-year-old
Ono released her five track “Will I / Fly” EP this
October on Twisted Records, proving an artist’s ambitions
aren’t apt to wane with age. What is it then that keeps an
artist’s muse alive when the body grows old?

“Life,” Ono said. “Life as opposed to death. I
think when you’re not inspired, you’re dead.”

“Will I / Fly” is the fifth release of Ono’s
remix series, a project that started when Rob Stevens, the
co-producer of Ono’s last two solo albums, as well as
“The John Lennon Anthology,” was approached by
electronica artist Jeremy Skaller about the possibility of remixing
an Ono song. The result was an explosive renovation of “Open
Your Box” from the 1970 release of “Yoko Ono / Plastic
Ono Band.” Ono’s sometimes infamous music career made a
sharp U-turn as the hit jumped to the top of U.S. dance charts late
last year. However, the artist doesn’t attribute the success
to any compromises made for public acceptance.

“My work was meant to be appreciated now,” Ono said.
“I think I’ve always been like this, and the world is
coming around, that’s all.”

The immediate success of “Open Your Box” quickly
garnered the attention of major electronic/dance artists such as
Pet Shop Boys, Felix Da Housecat and Superchumbo, who went on to
reconstruct original Ono songs. The usually proactive Ono took a
backseat to the project, preferring to see interpretations of her
songs evolve without exerting heavy-handed influence. And for once
it seems Ono and the music world have come to an easy agreement
about the fruits of her musical ambitions.

Ono described the tracks as being “hot” ““ and
dance clubs across Europe and the U.S. have been heating up to the
sound of Ono’s voice juxtaposed with mechanical beats and
ambient samples.

The success comes as no surprise to Ono. Crowned as queen of the
scapegoats for decades by many Beatles’ fans for her supposed
influence in the breakup of the band, Ono’s work has
repeatedly met a brick wall of negative press. Yet Ono attributes
the turn of the tables to the fact that her lesser-known music was
a predecessor for the innovations that have formed today’s
popular styles.

Many of her old albums included loops, sampling and other major
characteristics that now define the electronica genre. Her
uncompromising attitude that initially made the critics grit their
teeth is also now an almost required trait for any successful rock
band.

“Basically what we did in the ’60s and ’70s
probably affected a lot in the music world,” Ono said.
“I mean that kind of punk attitude ““ that was always
reflected more in my earlier stuff.”

Alongside the remix project, Ono has continued her involvement
in the art world. Currently “The Odyssey of a
Cockroach,” an exhibit examining human cruelty in the 20th
century, is showing in New York.

Last September Ono recreated her 1964 war-protest “Cut
Piece,” where audience members cut small scraps from her
clothes until she was left naked on stage. Security guards were not
present during the performance in an effort to communicate the need
for people trust each other. Whether her musical projects will gain
her newfound popularity, one can’t argue that Ono never tried
to please anyone other than herself.

“What’s important is that I always feel that I did
something good, that it satisfied me, and that I felt it was
artistically tops,” Ono said.