Would Picasso have been a Democrat? Was Jackson Pollock a Liberal? Ooohh, I'm going to change

[Mike 03]

my mind and start despising their work if I discover they were in opposition to my political views.

Jasper Johns. Brilliant painter. What are his politics? I have no clue. Should I retract collecting his paintings until I know where he stands on my issues?

Courtney Love. Brilliant musician (IMO). She once had a crush on Newt Gingrich. Should I hate her for the rest of her life for that?

How superficial can we be? Let's have a contest.

[BlooInBloo]

1. If I were to live by that standard, I'd have to hate damn near all music before bout 40 years ago...

Made by white Americans, due to their bigotry.

Fortunately, I'm perfectly able to enjoy good music, regardless of the craptacular person who made it.

[sam sarrha]

2. Jackson Pollock was a pathetic alcoholic his only party involved rivers of whiskey, been there done

that.. such a waste.

[femmocrat]

3. You collect Jasper Johns' paintings?

Really?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Picasso was a Communist.

[arcadian]

5. Jackson Pollock's work was subsidized by the CIA.

I'm not making that up.

[BeatleBoot]

6. Dali's support of General Franco for instance

Dali's my favorite.

I hate dictators.

Oh the conflict in me.

[bridgit]

7. What, no Kienholz?

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Politically, artists are lunatics

Maybe not all of them, and not absolutely, but it's true to a large degree. Remember Neil Young's infatuation with Reagan in the early 1980s?

Not only don't I care about an artist's politics, I deliberately avoid it. Artists have much less capacity than most people for being thoughtful political wonks (emphasis on "wonks", not "thoughtful"). Their minds just don't work in the ways required for political acumen.

I am, of course, happy when an artist is "on our side," but I don't expect much either way.

As for celebrity crushes, like Courtney Love's affection for Newt, they make little sense as well. Condi Rice, for example, has a large fan club, but certainly NOT for her political insight (absent) or her sense of honesty (negative).

Plus, I don't hate anyone in the news. They could all be robots for as much as it matters to me personally. Plus, most of them are interchangeable. The real problem is that they do stuff that eventually hurts and kills real people. But I've always been more of a structuralist than a believer in the Strong Leader theory of history.

Buddhists talk about the human mind being like a drunk, crazed monkey. From artists to lawyers, that's a pretty deft analysis.

--p!
Gimme another banana.

[Aristus]

9. Edward Hopper was a conservative. Still one of my favorite painters.

Besides, his wife was a liberal... B-)

[cynatnite]

10. When artists' antics or opinions get so much in the way of my enjoying their work...

then yeah, I kick 'em to the curb.

I used to love Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson. They are talented actors, IMO, but now I can't enjoy any of their work because of their bullshit.

Call it superficial...I don't give a crap, but it's awfully difficult to take what used to be good work seriously when all you see is Cruise blasting women who have to take meds for severe post-partem depression or Mel Gibson's over-the-top crazy religious nuttery.

Tom Selleck...he's pretty RW and so are a few other actors, but I still enjoy their work. They aren't out there being assholes or making fools of themselves. It's the same with other works whether it's music or art.