Art vs. Artist
The art is greater than the artist
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
— Walt Whitman
Some thoughts:
Art is more important than evil. Beauty and evil exist; it is beauty that sustains us; it is evil that destroys us. Therefore, beauty is more important than evil.
None of us is without sin. We have each done stupid and bad things.
However, we each contribute our verses to the “powerful play.”
These contributions are more important than our transgressions.
Therefore, I will separate the art from the artist, and appreciate the value of each human, no matter how evil that person may be. Total condemnation of a person negates the beauty and the value to us of that person’s contribution and that person’s art.
I believe that we should be more nuanced in our opinions, and more realistic in our expectations. We can appreciate the genius and value of Thomas Jefferson while also acknowledging his evils. Just as his accomplishments don’t erase his evils, his evils do not erase his accomplishments. I will add, that, in my opinion, no amount of a person’s evil can erase a person’s beauty or contributions. If we let the evil drown the good, the evil wins twice.
I was thinking about how brilliant Bill Cosby’s album “The 200 MPH Car” is, and how much, even fifty years later, I think of pieces from that bit. Carroll Shelby’s line to him: “You’re an American, ain’t ya? Get yourself an American car!” and Cosby’s line: “My Italian racing shoes turned into sneakers.” It is a brilliant bit.
Like many people who grew up loving Cosby, I had to wrestle with the fact that the man who invented “Fat Albert” and who was “America’s Dad” turned out to be a bastard. What the hell do you do? What he did was egregious, it was evil. He deserves condemnation. He was erased - no more “I Spy,” no more “The Bill Cosby Show.” He became and is now a 100% pariah. So, I guess I don’t listen to him anymore, right? But then there was a show about Carroll Shelby and I remembered the album, and I re-listened to it, and damn it! It is brilliant. God damn Bill Cosby for erasing his entire legacy.
I am not trying to resurrect Cosby. It is a tragedy and awful that he turned out to be a bastard, and it is Shakespearian how “America’s Dad” fell into such deserved condemnation.
And yet: his comedy is brilliant. Am I to shun the good this man has done as I condemn him for his evil? Am I to reject the brilliance and the positive contributions he has made because he also committed crimes? Do I lock up his comedy in my brain forever, never to be seen or heard again?
I chose not to. I chose to celebrate and appreciate art, and positivity, and brilliance whatever their sources, because we need it. Evil is banal. Evil is common, and ubiquitous, and boring, tragic as it is. Evil is part of the human condition, and as much as I would like to find a way to make evil vanish, it never will. However: beauty and brilliance are what we live for. Art and science and the achievements of brilliant men and women are needed. We need to learn and appreciate every good thing there is, even if it was generated people who have done bad things. The good thing is more important than the person who did it. The 200 MPH Car is more important than Cosby - Cosby is a broken down, disgraced, old man. Long after Cosby is dead and gone, someone will find his album in the record bin, play it, and be dazzled by it. The pain that Cosby caused? Awful and unforgivable. But the brilliance is there, and we should appreciate it.
How many artists do we have now that have created great art while also being considered bastards? Roman Polanski. Woody Allen. Mel Gibson. John Wayne. Errol Flynn. J. K. Rowling. Tom Cruise. And now Will Smith.
I can be pissed off at Eric Clapton and Van Morrison for being anti-vaccine while also appreciating their brilliance as artists. Isn’t “Tears in Heaven” and “You Look Wonderful Tonight” far more important than whatever BS opinions Eric Clapton has now? Aren’t the songs expressions of humanity that supersede his old-man bullshit about “this has gotta stop?”
Let the old men and women rant. Accept that they are bastards. Condemn them for it. And then, let their art diminish their evil.