"separating the art from the artist" is an analytical tool. it arrests the impulse to try to read the artist's mind when you're interpreting their work. if you want an adage to keep in your pocket when you're making consumer choices, try "follow the money."

March 25, 2026 - 00:15 UTC

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Anyway if you’re looking for a second book to have read ever I suggest Frederic Jameson’s postmodernism or the cultural logic of late capitalism it’s from the 90s too.
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Impecabble flamethrowing skills, Cam
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I'm not really qualified to assess whether clinging sullenly to a child's book makes you a bad person, but I do think it makes you timid, incurious, and dull. It makes you someone who will sacrifice other people for a memory of comfort. It makes you untrustworthy and weak.
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speaking of artists, did anybody catch Man Ray in the ninja turtle set?
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No but my goth friends caught many sets at Man Ray back in the 90s.
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No, what? I went to a turtle pre-release (scored a Roaming Throne in a pack I won!) and recently saw the man Ray exhibit at the met, so this piques my interest
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For real. I can't separate a certain wizard series from a certain author as I keep reading into themes and underlying tones that are now apparent when put alongside the author's political voice.
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At the same time, there's a lot of themes in the books that she has become the villains she wrote, but can't see it. It's an interesting example of how someone can be radicalized into evil if they're immersed in it as if they're the hero.
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I can read Lovecraft and separate the creepy, racist little twitch from the words he wrote because he is dead. You cannot do it with a living artist.

If you provide cash to someone who is funding hate, then you are funding hate. There's no way to separate your consumption from their action.
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Analytical ?
Oh…

<Hide his battle axe>
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"if you’re looking for a second book to have read ever I suggest Frederic Jameson’s postmodernism"

And is this not in itself Postmodern, in that asking a reader to shift from semi-literate drivel to an intricate bit of culture critique is to take the famous leap from the sublime to the ridiculous?
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Sorry to Žižek at you with the "is this not" phrasing.
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the only way to separate the art from the artist is mechanically
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Ideally with a fine mesh or metal sieve; a colander will serve in a pinch
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The irony is these are the same people who used to argue "the books totally have gay representation, the author said so!"
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