I've been thinking more about the concept of "separating the art from the artist". I believe it's a great tool & skill to have as critical thinkers & learners, to be able to separate the art from the artist even as many of us seek to further cultivate our own creativity so we look at other bodies of works as examples. But when it's taught as the Rule of navigating art, that's where it gets iffy. I wonder how much of that is impressed upon us so that we can continue consuming the art, music, movie & media that's sold & marketed to us.
Whole institutions, industries & corporations have a stake in seeing their product sell & continue to sell. Especially once they've established a record & history of selling something successfully, they already figured out that the product works & they can always sell it again, continuously, as they need to. The lore around these works & how relevant they are, how important they are, how impactful they are, how meaningful it all is, how deep, evolutionary & revolutionary the works are, are all apart of the ethos to continue selling it over & over again
The creative arts have a powerful effect on our pysche as humans. Art, music, dance, theater & storytelling have been with us since the beginning. In ancient times, these creative mediums were used spiritually to bring us into alternative states of higher awareness & cognition. Fast forward, we're living in a global society that is so far removed from who we were originally that we forget just how powerful these mediums really are & what the arts are doing to us & our psyches collectively.
Don't let me get into my conspiracy theorist bag here because you know I'm on that. But the point is, there's an interest in keeping us locked in as consumers, as fans, to keep buying, to keep the machine going, to move to the beat that they want us to move to & to watch / live the stories they want to tell us.
"Separating the art from the artist" is a rule to us, as consumers & fans, in navigating mass-produced & sold creative media (movies, art, music, etc.;), so that when / if any darkness comes to light about the names & faces behind the works, we don't scrutinize too hard, too hard that we don't buy what they sell us. However, that Rule of "Separating the art from the artist" is not something that's offered to smaller, local & independent artists who are also important & valuable in preserving the identities & cultures of their communities & respected regions. If a small local artist were to commit any despicable, depraved crime, their work as artists loses all meaning & is completely destroyed.
JUST THINKING OUT LOUD.
Peace party people,
- Señor Gigio