In this week’s issue, Anna Mirocha wrote a City Week blurb on The Art of John Lennon, a traveling show coming to La Encantada this weekend.

Something we did not note in the blurb, unfortunately, is the fact that there are some questions about the art being displayed. Margaret Regan wrote about this on Jan. 11, 1996, the last time this exhibit came through town.

Here’s an excerpt:

Part of the problem with this show, though, which an art critic feels duty-bound to point out, is that much of what’s on display is essentially very expensive posters of Lennon’s drawings, with added-on colors selected by his widow. … Buyers should beware that [most] of the pictures, many of them whimsical, even charming, images of John with his wife and son, are reproductions, produced after his death in lithograph and serigraph (silkscreen) by hired artisans. They just don’t count as his artwork.

This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2007.

5 replies on “Regarding “The Art of John Lennon””

  1. It’s what uget always with icons, forever and ever. You know with Purdue up, Lute down. game’s over and lost, time to forget em but you can’t, you just can’t…

  2. Sounds like Mrs Regan has settled it. If you’re like me you’ll see it cuz your a typical American celebrity whore, in this case some music dude from the stone age, you’ll get just what you wanted, cute images of your idol. If you want art, you’ll be short-changed.

    Not the job of those calendar hits to differentiate.

    I really wish Regan lived up in the valley (of fthe sun). She could write for pub she wanted up here. Shit, if she was willing to drive a bit, she probably wouldn’t have to move!

  4. The 2007 blurb quotes this guy:
    – “The exhibit has changed dramatically since the first time it was in Tucson,” says Pacific Edge curator Richard Horowitz. “We have a lot of very rare editions now.” –
    Doesn’t sound like it’s different enough, though.

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