Art Madrid'23 – Yoko Ono Half-a-Wind Show, retrospective in Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao)

The conceptual artist Yoko Ono celebrates its 80th anniversary with the major retrospective of his work so far. "Half-a-Wind Show" can be seen at the Guggenheim in Bilbao until 4 September.
"The blame for everything has Yoko Ono ..." the sarcastic refrain of a Spanish group is referred to the bad opinion that the people usually had about this independent artist who crossed in the life of Beatle John Lennon to give peace and love and, according to most critics, she stepped him away from the music, definitely separated him from his companions and definitely destroyed the band from Liverpool. 
 
Time, however, has given Yoko Ono (Tokyo, February 18, 1933) a truce and his work has outweighed the legend of "the Black Widow". The prove is the figure of about 320,000 people who have already gone through the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to see the largest retrospective of the artist so far, "Half-A-Wind Show", an exhibition showing the history of this pioneer of the Conceptual Art with nearly 200 objects, films, documentation of performances, installations, drawings, photographs, fine text and audio to paint a complete portrait of Yoko Ono and with what she wants to celebrate his 80th birthday.
 

The starting point of this exhibition is the book A Book of Instructions and Drawings, published by the artist in 1970 and in which a number of recommendations and instructions are shelled for the public to better enjoy his work and that these guidelines "are indications that unfold a whole world of things, assign the public a more active role than usual in the art world, because without the real or mental participation of the viewer, most of the works are considered incomplete "as explains in the exhibition.

And the main component of his work are the ideas, not the materials or techniques, ideas that become in spaces, objects, actions, images, performances often with a message of social criticism but also with a great sense of humor and optimism. In fact, Lennon felt in love with her thanks to her installation "Ceiling Painting" (1966) that can be seen in Bilbao. In this installation, the viewer must climb a wooden staircase to get close to the ceiling where it hangs a magnifying glass with which can see a tiny (but inmense) post in the ceiling: "YES / SI". 
 
"Words are powerful and influence your mind," claimed the artist in the presentation of the Guggenheim retrospective, "I said YEAH in the 60's, what about it provocation? It was provocative art ".

The exhibition is divided into sections and begins with the most important works of 1960, the first actions and performances, works on paper, ready-mades and objects strongly influenced by the New York avant-garde of the era and artists like musician John Cage, George Maciunas, founder of the Fluxus movement, or the filmmaker Jonas Mekas.

The exhibition does not forget the musical and film side of Yoko Ono, with her works in collaboration with John Lennon and more recent work, as the album that recorded two years ago with the American Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, or his bizarre version of the Katy Perry's song Fireworks, which Yoko performed at the MoMA in New York. The last section presents its latest facilities and participatory works, some of them designed especially for this retrospective. 
 
In case of doubt whether if it is worth or not going to see this exhibition, it is best to take the "Yoko option": YES, YES, always.

 

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.