“The problem with art is, because we love it so much, we put the artists who created it on pedestals and we believe they cannot fail because, in some corner of our mind, we’ve formed a relationship with them and their product, and for us to discover them as imperfect shatters the illusion: we have made a god in our mind where there is only a human, as flawed and imperfect as ourselves. But what that piece of art they created gave us, in that moment in time, was pure love, joy and satisfaction. The art didn’t do anything wrong to you. The art shouldn’t be punished. Say what you will of the artist, but the product they produced and that you love shouldn’t be demeaned if it made you happy for one moment in time.”
This seems to be at the heart of many arguments. In the wake of the Woody Allen sexual abuse alligations, the Phillip Seymour Hoffman overdose, or many other controversies, can we separate the art from the artist? Should we? This article at Chicago Now looks at one side of that argument.
