I would say it’s not possible. The art IS the artist. The art only is what it is because the artist is who they are. But a lot of people seem to be very comfortable with the idea of separating the art from the artist. What say Lemmy?
I would say it’s not possible. The art IS the artist. The art only is what it is because the artist is who they are. But a lot of people seem to be very comfortable with the idea of separating the art from the artist. What say Lemmy?
I fully agree with your take regarding art but for different reasons apparently. I do think your way of approaching this makes you a good person. Specifically because you are willing to consume the art of a ‘bad’ person just because of the chance they make something good. It shows you’re trying to build an inclusive community, even if you disagree with someone. So it makes me wonder, why do you think being a good person ‘pertains to’ (forces?) consumption?
Again, I agree that there is no good consumption (in the capitalist sense). But I can absolutely see good deeds one can do without even getting close to consuming resources. An example would be holding the door open for the person behind you. Or am I misunderstanding you somehow?
You’re not misunderstanding at all. You actually took what I was saying even a step further, so thank you for asking. I was using some reductive language to avoid making it over complex or sounding pretentious. I spoke of it in terms of “being a good person” because I think this conversation is at heart distillation of the problems of consumption and our self perceptions. Like, it’s about morality too but that part is easier settled by just not giving problematic artists our resources.
So for the meat of it, when we’re talking about whether it’s okay to consume art from “bad people” I think what we’re trying to discover is if doing so makes us bad. and like, it possibly can but not intentionally and not if we do it critically. and also the quality that I’m referring to as bad isn’t actually a binary. it’s actually an expansive amount of values on their own individual spectrums that we should be analyzing and keeping in our mind while we participate in the art. from there we can broaden our concepts of good and bad or problematic/unproblematic and actually use that awareness to prevent some harm.
I said doing this makes me a bad person because I assume most people I interact with have all-or-nothing morality and I don’t think it will change. I find it easier to just live with the base assumption that I’m a problem and not wait for people tell me who I am but that’s probably trauma talking. I probably should be examining that.
But anyway yes, you’re right. But I’d call most good deeds that can be done as acts of creation. Like creating feelings of respect and ease of life by holding a door for someone.