The fact that I was writing a piece on separating art by the artist before this is such a coincidence that I don't know whether I should be scared or impressed. Could I mention this post if I ever share my essay (prone to leaving so many un-published drafts) the whole question is mind boggling and I thank you for sharing it.
It's so complex, and I'd love to see the ways you explore it in your piece -- so I do hope you publish it! And feel free to mention this post. It's a question that I carry with me every time I engage with art, especially new work, and certainly as I revisit pieces. There are some things that I respond to totally differently now. There are so many shades, layers, and I think the question will perhaps be a timeless one.
This is a great question. I'll go first. All art is produced by the hands heart and mind of a person touched by simply existing in a socioeconomic and cultural climate. exposure to life is political. The circumstances surrounding the artists very birth were political. The question of whether that life should or shouldn't exist was and is politics. The artist and the art are not and can never be separate. They are forever enmeshed in the same experience...borne from the same impetus, facing the same consumption, digestion, interaction and adjudication of the world. An artist is born. Art is borne. Art is born. An artist is borne.
This question was art. The answer is art. We are art. Can you detangle unsprouted seeds from the root? No. Can you detangle or extract the chemistry in progress of art from the essence of an artist? No. A human being is a walking & talking compilation of worlds and galaxies, their art just a taste of that blended potion of every politic traced back to every beginning that ever had an effect on anything. Politics are like the air we breathe, you can not always detect it or see it, but is everywhere and it is what makes the world turn from days of old to this very second. Imagine taking tweezers or forceps and separating the very fibers of a human seen and unseen, the fibers of life seen and unseen, and all thoughts seen and unseen. This is how I imagine politics, a million splinters in flesh where you do not know what is splinter and what is flesh anymore. - T.T. Lauren
!! Ah, thank you for such a vivid response. "...politics are like the air we breathe, you can not always detect it or see it..." and ".. what is splinter and what is flesh.." really stick with me.
They are inextricably linked. Informing each other. Never ending.
Vlb - this topic has been heavy on mind. I have had to accept that all artists are flawed, human. Many may be problematic that we are not even publicly aware of. No media is safe. It's an unsettling feeling :/ Usually if I am listening to a ~problematic artist~ it's not really the artist I'm indulging in. It's a mood or a memory. So it's very tough to reconcile and I don't think there is a right answer!
I can totally relate to the memory, and music is one of the categories that definitely resonates with me for this. I find myself letting go of these older works and finding less and less joy every time I return to it. It fades for me, every time.
When Britney comes on shuffle, at first, it's joyful then I think of the entire industry that thrived off of keeping Britney an entertainment slave. It's slow torture...
The fact that I was writing a piece on separating art by the artist before this is such a coincidence that I don't know whether I should be scared or impressed. Could I mention this post if I ever share my essay (prone to leaving so many un-published drafts) the whole question is mind boggling and I thank you for sharing it.
It's so complex, and I'd love to see the ways you explore it in your piece -- so I do hope you publish it! And feel free to mention this post. It's a question that I carry with me every time I engage with art, especially new work, and certainly as I revisit pieces. There are some things that I respond to totally differently now. There are so many shades, layers, and I think the question will perhaps be a timeless one.
This is a great question. I'll go first. All art is produced by the hands heart and mind of a person touched by simply existing in a socioeconomic and cultural climate. exposure to life is political. The circumstances surrounding the artists very birth were political. The question of whether that life should or shouldn't exist was and is politics. The artist and the art are not and can never be separate. They are forever enmeshed in the same experience...borne from the same impetus, facing the same consumption, digestion, interaction and adjudication of the world. An artist is born. Art is borne. Art is born. An artist is borne.
This question was art. The answer is art. We are art. Can you detangle unsprouted seeds from the root? No. Can you detangle or extract the chemistry in progress of art from the essence of an artist? No. A human being is a walking & talking compilation of worlds and galaxies, their art just a taste of that blended potion of every politic traced back to every beginning that ever had an effect on anything. Politics are like the air we breathe, you can not always detect it or see it, but is everywhere and it is what makes the world turn from days of old to this very second. Imagine taking tweezers or forceps and separating the very fibers of a human seen and unseen, the fibers of life seen and unseen, and all thoughts seen and unseen. This is how I imagine politics, a million splinters in flesh where you do not know what is splinter and what is flesh anymore. - T.T. Lauren
!! Ah, thank you for such a vivid response. "...politics are like the air we breathe, you can not always detect it or see it..." and ".. what is splinter and what is flesh.." really stick with me.
They are inextricably linked. Informing each other. Never ending.
Vlb - this topic has been heavy on mind. I have had to accept that all artists are flawed, human. Many may be problematic that we are not even publicly aware of. No media is safe. It's an unsettling feeling :/ Usually if I am listening to a ~problematic artist~ it's not really the artist I'm indulging in. It's a mood or a memory. So it's very tough to reconcile and I don't think there is a right answer!
I can totally relate to the memory, and music is one of the categories that definitely resonates with me for this. I find myself letting go of these older works and finding less and less joy every time I return to it. It fades for me, every time.
Every. Time.
When Britney comes on shuffle, at first, it's joyful then I think of the entire industry that thrived off of keeping Britney an entertainment slave. It's slow torture...
We need you to come to Memoiring and SAY MORE! Guest spot sometime?!!
You just tell me when and I'll be there. I've got some more to say!!