Oh, No! Ono Art Vandalized Art Student Takes Felt-Tip Pen To $240,000 Yoko Ono Painting

Jake Platt’s red-letter day was less than auspicious.

Platt, 22, has been accused of using a big, red felt-tip pen to vandalize a $240,000 painting by Yoko Ono at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center.

The sometime student at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts said he took Ono’s words - “No one can tell you not to touch the art” - to heart during his Oct. 16 visit to the gallery.

He has been charged with felony vandalism and could spend between two to 10 years in jail, said Scott Forgey, Platt’s attorney.

Platt was released from jail Saturday on $7,500 bond pending a Nov. 10 appearance in Hamilton County Municipal Court.

He had been visiting his father in Ohio when he decided to take in the exhibit of works by Ono.

Like Ono, Platt, an abstractionist painter, said he adheres to the Fluxus movement, which mandates that art must be felt, touched and experienced with all senses.

The 1994 work titled “Part Painting/A Circle,” consists of 24 large white canvasses with a wide, horizontal black line painted across each one, suggesting an endless horizon. Near the painting was a sign quoting Ono about touching art.

The work was close to two large piles of rocks - one called “joy” and another called “sorrow” - which other visitors were interacting with by moving them around and attaching notes to them.

“No one said anything about me writing on the rocks, so I figured it would be OK to write on the painting,” Platt said. “So what I did was underline the black line with a red line, to sort of highlight it.”

Angry gallery officials managed to stop Platt after five panels.

Platt gave them his name and address before leaving and later turned himself in to police.

Ono was none too happy.

“She was notified by the art center, and she wasn’t pleased,” said Michael Phillips, who manages Ono’s New York studio.