NEWS
Lennon artwork garners discussion
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by Andriy Pazuniak
Monday, November 7, 2005
A collection of John Lennon artwork displayed over the weekend at the University of Wisconsin attracted many art and music enthusiasts, but also raised questions about the exhibit's marketing.
Hundreds of UW students and Madison residents waited in hour-long lines to see the "Come Together" art collection by former Beatles star John Lennon exhibited at the Red Gym, which helped raise money for the Dean of Students' Crisis Fund.
While both patrons and organizers called the event a success, some questioned whether the exhibit was accurately and honestly advertised.
Described as featuring the "artwork of John Lennon" on fliers and programs, the exhibit was predominantly comprised of reproductions of original works by Lennon.
However, event organizers did not conceal this fact, noting in both the program and in introductory descriptions that Lennon's wife Yoko Ono had reproduced many of the pieces after his death in 1981, as well as added color to many of them.
"The majority of the pieces were limited-edition prints," Rudy Siegel, the director of media relations for Legacy Productions, which brought the exhibit to UW, said. "[Lennon] was a pen and ink sketch artist, so any of the color that you saw in any of the artwork was added by Yoko as another part of the collaboration between the two of them."
As the executer of John Lennon's estate, Yoko Ono was within her legal right to do so, according to former UW senior lecturer of marketing Henry Boyd.
"When Lennon was tragically killed and Ono took over the estate, she got the right to reproduce his work," Boyd said in a phone interview Sunday. "There's nothing illegal there."
Boyd, who is now a teaching fellow at the University of Maryland, added in order for an advertisement to be considered "false" by the Federal Trade Commission, the advertisement must be determined to have "left out information" that "affected the decision of whether people were going to go to the exhibit."
According to many people waiting in line for the exhibit, this was not the case.
Lennon left a powerful legacy and I think that's what drew most people to come here," UW student Christine Vatovec said while waiting in line. "It's interesting to see what he left behind and try to think about what other contributions he might have had to society."
This is the single fact that, according to Boyd, does not make the advertising deceptive.
"[Lennon] is obviously a legend, and that draws people," Boyd said. "People sort of knew [Ono and Legacy Productions] did something, but still wanted to come."
Overall, UW students and Madison residents left pleased with the exhibit.
"I came and I saw what I expected to see — which was artwork by John Lennon," Vatovec said after seeing the collection.
This was the point of the exhibit in the first place, organizers said.
"Most people didn't know that he did artwork," Siegel said. "So, when they see a hundred pieces of his art up, they come away with an appreciation of John as an artist in the true sense of the word."
