Yoko Ono: The Worst Artist in the History of Art

There are artists whose work challenges us, artists who force us to reconsider what art can be. And then there are artists whose work seems to challenge the very idea that art should require talent, craft, imagination or even execution. For me, Yoko Ono belongs firmly in the second category and a perfect example of talent-less art.

Ono became one of the most celebrated figures of conceptual art, only because of her association with John Lennon. Her works mostly consist of instructions, gestures or propositions that can appear deliberately empty: an invitation to imagine, participate, destroy, cut, listen or simply contemplate an idea. But, is an idea, by itself, is enough to constitute art? You might think yes, and you may be right. But Ono’s ideas were the opposite of brilliant. Her ideas were baseless, useless and terrifyingly mediocre.

But art has always involved an encounter between conception and creation. A painter of figurative or abstract art is also a conceptual artist. As is a sculptor who must understand material; a musician must master sound; a writer must wrestle with language. Even when an artist deliberately rejects traditional technique, there remains the necessity of transforming an idea into something capable of carrying aesthetic, emotional or intellectual weight. Mucho of conceptual art, in my view, removes that essential struggle and then presents its absence as a virtue.

Ono’s reputation is also inseparable from her extraordinary cultural position: her relationship with John Lennon, her place within the avant-garde of the 1960s, and the art world’s fascination with provocation and celebrity. This does not make her work worthless by definition, but it does raise an uncomfortable question: would many of these works have received the same attention had they not been attached to such a famous cultural figure?

The problem, ultimately, is not that Yoko Ono broke the rules. Great artists have always broken rules. The problem is that breaking the rules is not, by itself, an artistic achievement. Provocation is not profundity. An idea is not automatically a work of art. And removing craftsmanship does not automatically produce intellectual depth. Removing craftsmanship produces mostly rubbish. And is it not pretentious to think that one can constantly fool the public by instructing them to stare at the sun until it looks square?

For those reasons, I would place Yoko Ono as the worst artist in Art History. And I only call her an «artist» because she gave herself the title and who am I to take something from someone. But I do proffer my opinion, as an artist. She exemplifies what I consider the failure of conceptual art: the point at which the explanation surrounding the work becomes more important than the work itself. In an art world increasingly willing to mistake novelty for originality and obscurity for profundity, Ono represents, total mediocrity, i.e. the sign of the times.

FRANCISCO BRAVO CABRERA

Instagram: @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera

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