By Logan Goralski
One of the hottest topics in art and music currently is controversy surrounding artists and how they use their platforms. Probably the most notable currently is Kanye West, who has always carried controversy, but recently he’s made several anti-semitic comments that have brought him back into the spotlight of controversy once again, but he isn’t the only one.
From Pablo Picasso showing misogyny in his art, to Michael Jackson’s relationships with children, and even Taylor Swift with her ever-increasing carbon emissions, many major figures have been surrounded by controversy. Some even after death, in the case of Picasso and Jackson, but how do people react to this?
With the current power of social media, we can see many types of reactions. Some people will defend the artists and their art, some take videos destroying any merchandise of the artists they own, and some just acknowledge and move on while still consuming their media. So this bears the question, should we separate the art from the artist or should we hold them accountable?
Some are able to look past an artist’s controversies and just enjoy their art for what it is.
“I think it’s good to acknowledge that someone has done not great things,” said 19-year-old Sydney Poirier of Rockford. “We can go back to Taylor Swift right now, her putting out a bunch of carbon dioxide or whatever, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t made good music.”
In this, it can release limitations of your own enjoyment of music. This could also allow you a more unbiased point of view on someone’s art. If you’re able to look at art objectively it allows the imagination to flow, even within the whole idea of a given piece.
But sometimes this can be hard to separate when an artist can’t separate their own controversies from their art. In other words, including specific imagery in a derogatory context, the use of slurs in songs and even egging on some of the people that disagree with them.
“Definitely try to hold people accountable, I don’t go out of my way to look for flaws.” GRCC student Lex Willey-Stein, 21, said. “ …As an artist, and this applies to pretty much all artists, when you make an art piece it does not only show what you want it to show, it shows stuff about you, and it shows stuff about your culture and your society.”
Willey-Stein also expressed that it’s quite hard to separate the art from the artist when it’s a reflection of them and that they try to be mindful of this.
“In a perfect world I’d love to just be able to enjoy everything,” Willey-Stein said.
So with these insights in mind, what do you think society should do? Do we continue to endorse these artists even with their controversies? Or should we try to enjoy the art for what it is?
