Separating Art from the Artist

Art and being able to interpret it is commonly held as one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments. Interpreting art is not always easy though. One popular way to help with this is to take a closer look at the artist or artists behind the work, but sometimes this can make things more confusing. When appreciating art, whether that be listening to music, watching a movie or inspecting a painting, the artist will usually inflict some of their influence and beliefs onto the art itself. What happens, though, when the artist has controversial ideologies or political beliefs? Is it wrong to say it is not right to indulge in this art anymore? 

This argument has been around since art has been talked about, but it has gained a lot of traction relatively recently. Ever since social media has been around it has given artists and their fans a way to almost connect. As people learn more about artists they may realize that their favorite musician or painter may not be the best person. This can spark the idea of, “Do I still listen to this music or admire this painting, even though the artist has done these controversial things?” 

In my opinion, yes, you should separate the art from the artist. The only real exception here is if the art has an obvious meaning connecting the artist’s beliefs to the art itself. As an example of something that can be separated and something that cannot be, I would use Kanye West and Rage Against the Machine. Two extremely different artists who are both very open about their political beliefs but only one applies them to their music. 

Take Kanye for example, throughout his music career he never mentions antisemitism until his latest album. Using that knowledge the average Kanye listener could separate his music from his antisemitic ideas. 

Now for Rage Against the Machine, it would be almost impossible to do because of their heavy political anti-capitalistic and nongovernmental lyrics in almost all of their songs. 

Another leading part of this argument is not wanting to support a bad person. This I can agree with. Giving money or streams to bad people can leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, but honestly, I don’t care that much. Sure I am supporting a bad person, but it personally doesn’t affect my mood or keep me up at night. 

The biggest takeaway from the argument of separating art from the artist all depends on the personal beliefs of the viewer of the art. As for my personal opinion, I find it an easy task to be able to understand the meaning of an artwork and decide for myself if this is a statement of the artist’s beliefs or if it can be seen as its own independent thing with its own value. As a closing note, nothing obliges anybody to intake a piece of art. If someone disagrees with an artwork’s political beliefs, they could just not care and keep enjoying it, which is totally okay.