Is it necessary to separate the artist from the art?

After the #metoo movement started, the number of pages of celebrities I’ve unfollowed surpasses the amount I can count on my fingers. The list included comedians, actors, singers and writers. If the origin of the art that I admire is from an unworthy person, I am willing to give it a miss. The artist is equally important as the art to me. But is it okay? As an individual who has her own right to decide what to accept into her life and what to discard, of course it is perfectly fine! Although this choice of mine does deprive me of enjoying quality art belonging to established artists who have a taint in their image because of an accusation or two (or plenty). As an ordinary citizen of the country, I have no way of knowing if the claims made against a celebrity has any credibility so I am left to assume that they are correct. I truly believe in the authenticity of most such cases too because the rich and the powerful rule the world (it is a tradition since time immemorial) and their atrocities are easily covered up and pardoned quicker than if a poor child laborer steals food. In fact, the counter defamation suits that are filed by the perpetrators irks me. But that discussion will lead to a whole other write-up. Coming back to the actual topic, I am still unsure whether I should appreciate the high quality art that is created under the name of a characterless artist. Because art is not supposed to be biased – it has no gender or religion or any other classification. Often it is impossible to judge the right and wrong in art forms too. If we started labelling writers who preferred penning down gruesome tales of murder to be actually psychopathic, it would be unfair. But that’s purely concerning the imagination that goes into the art they create. So, what about the reality and how it portrays the artist’s true self? When I look at people who are held in high esteem in my head due to their splendid talents, I know that the major factor that led me to them being idolized is not how I perceived their personality. But that does not imply that it can be completely ignored. Most people I like tend to have some kind of endearing quality to their behavior, values like humility and broad mindedness, contempt towards violence etc earn more than mere brownie points. I have also tried to not be harsh in my judgement of people because of the brilliance they exhibited through the depiction of their skills which were mind-blowing despite their attitude being mind-numbing or plain annoying. That’s when prioritization becomes important, what exactly should be given precedence – the art or the artist? If the artist was related to me but the art was not good enough, would I respect her/him? If the art was wonderful and moving but it came from a rapist/murderer/misogynist/racist, does it not seem like a betrayal of one’s ethical beliefs to applaud it?

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