Yoko Ono

Artistically misunderstood, derisively known as the most famous widow in the world and vilified as the catalyst for the breakup of the most famous music group of all time, Yoko Ono in actuality is an uncompromising artistic visionary who was already an avant-garde superstar before she met John Lennon. Today, Yoko is finally recognized as an influential artist who pushes the boundaries of the art, film, music and theatre media. The present time marks a renewed resurgence of interest and celebration of her work. She has recently received high media profile due to the simultaneous reissue of her music catalog (including a boxed set) on the Rykodisc specialty label as well as for the premiere of her off-Broadway theatre piece Hiroshima. However these achievements obscure her body of 16 films made between 1964 and 1972, some in collaborative effort with her late husband.

Yoko Ono (whose first name translates to "ocean child") was born on February 18, 1933 in Tokyo, the eldest of three children born to Eisuke and Isoko, a wealthy aristocratic family. Her father was a frustrated pianist who held degrees from Tokyo universities in mathematics and economics. In 1935 he became head of a Japanese bank in San Francisco, as a result he did not meet Yoko until she was two years old, since she stayed behind in Tokyo with her mother.

When Yoko was 18, her father was appointed president of a bank in New York as the family settled in the affluent suburb of Scarsdale, N.Y. Attending the prestigious Sarah Lawrence College in New York, Yoko dropped out to elope with her first husband, Toshi Ichiyanagi. It was while living in New York's artsy Greenwich Village that Yoko discovered the world of avant-garde artists. Once absorbed in the scene,she began her life long association with art beginning with informal events then segueing into poetry while developing her fascination for conceptual pieces. Alienated as an "artistic radical" for years her work was ridiculed or ignored. That began to change once she began her working relationship with American jazz musician/film producer Anthony Cox, the man who would eventually become her second husband.

~ http://www.yoko-ono.com/