Art And The Artist

 Paul Campos examines the role the artist's personal qualities should or should not effect our appreciation of their art.

As we've learned just how awful most celebrity geniuses are, it's tough to separate our enjoyment of art produced by terrible people, if we determine that enjoying their art is an endorsement of their person.

I guess that always struck me as absurd. When an artist creates art and the art is "finished" and presented to the world, it ceases to truly belong to the artist (beyond copyright laws or legal possession). An artist does not control the reaction to their art, no doubt they sometimes wish they could. 

This comes up all the time with writers who write things that the reader assumes are autobiographical. That isn't always what a writer is doing. Yes, they may mine personal experiences or feelings for material, but writing fiction is about...fiction.

I like Woody Allen films. I like Roman Polanski's Chinatown. I like Eric Clapton's music. I do not personally like any of those three artists. That's OK. Enjoying a Miramax film does not mean endorsing Harvey Weinstein's sexual predations.

And frankly, it's weird that people think so.