Judge the Art, Not the Artist
“The thing about rattling off a litany of bad people who have done great things is that, surely, this is just the tiny tip of a colossal iceberg much, or most, of which we will never glimpse.”
Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!
Going back in time and re-judging “art” (paintings, music, movies, games, comics, books, etc.) based on who the artist is or was, is truly a fool’s errand.
We now live in an age of information where it’s far too easy to learn everything about a person, for better or worse.
Even retroactively we are discovering new journals and letters offering more understanding of famous figures who have long since passed.
These insightful bits of trivia can lead us down a rabbit hole where we start to judge everything that doesn’t live up to some ideal of perfection, or at the very least political correctness.
Access to unlimited information is causing us to become a cynical society. We are finding less joy in things we used to appreciate on a straightforward level.
Not everything needs a backstory.
Sometimes I would just like to appreciate something as a simple snapshot in time.
“Take me, I am the drug; take me, I am hallucinogenic.”
Most artists have quirks…
That’s why they see the world differently.
Those quirks may be subtle or mundane. BUT they can also be notable character flaws that range from trivial to terrible.
Controversial world views, starving artists, abused or abusers, the mentally ill, tormented or tortured and bouts of manic behavior or depression.
This is NOT to say these quirks are an excuse.
NONE of these things excuse a person’s behavior.
They simply help to explain and understand it.
If someone is a terrible person they can be judged as such.
If you want to boycott a person based on their behavior and speak with your wallet, that’s perfectly reasonable.
But do not live your life retroactively.
Do not fixate on re-appraising every bit of art you’ve ever enjoyed because you learned a new bit of trivia.
In the internet age it’s far too easy to learn all the intimate details of a person’s life. Especially if that person had any type of celebrity.
“Deeds Rather Than Words”
Does this pertain to extremes? For example, Hitler was an artist?
No it does not… #$%& that guy!
He made his mark on the world and it wasn’t through his art.
Do not confuse a terrible human being who also happened to do art, with an artist who also happened to be a flawed human being.
“Judging the art, and not the artist” is not a smokescreen for terrible people to hide behind simply because they did something creative at some point in their life.
It’s meant to be a gauge in a world where we are overwhelmed with information.
“There are no rules. Just follow your heart.”
Being cynical online is so vogue nowadays.
People can’t share the smallest feel-good story or anecdote without commenters trying to give some edgy, devil’s advocate, hot-take on it.
*Queue the orphan crushing machine comments*
At the end of the day, it’s up to you as a person to decide what to keep in your life and what to let go of. But don’t let yourself get bogged down by the endless minutia of who someone was.
That ship has sailed…
Times change. People change. Aesthetics change. Artists change and art will change.
Some people age poorly and so does some art.
We can’t change the past. So where do we draw the line?
“Life moves pretty fast.”
Embrace the things that bring you joy in life and discard the things that don’t.
But don’t drown yourself in the all the noise that says you need to revise your opinions to conform with some new social meta.
Art was never meant to be this milquetoast thing we all agree on.
In fact, many times art is the exact opposite.
An interesting article I stumbled across while writing this post:
