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John Lennon’s pottery could contaminate before it was understood — Toilets
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination
John Lennon is perhaps most famous for being ejected from West Hollywood’s Troubador club in 1974 after heckling The Smothers Brothers. But he was more than just a drunk and a troublemaker: he was an artist, a sculptor of toilets.
Lennon began making toiletware out of Bakelite, with little success. His first urinal, inspired by the work of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, was dismissed by one critic as a “plastic no-no.”
Only when he switched to a more traditional material — vitreous china — and a more versatile subject — toilet bowls — was he to achieve any sort of renown in the art world.
His first major exhibition, held in Liverpool’s Loover Gallery in 1977 and entitled Imagine There’s No Paper, was a critical success, although shunned by the public.
The public’s reluctance to engage with Lennon’s challenging artistic vision proved to their benefit, because many of the art critics who attended the opening developed severe allergic sinusitis, and Lennon’s pottery was to blame.
In some of the toilets he exhibited, Lennon used compost gathered from his allotment to mimic human faeces. Unfortunately, that compost was contaminated…
