Can you separate the art from the artist?
(4 min read) This is an age-old question and quite frankly, for me personally, a mind-boggling one. I’m, okay with some artworks and with some other ones — I’m just not. Does that make me a hypocrite? Probably, but at least I’m owning it.
As an avid reader, I never read Lovecraft who was an overtly racist product of his time. I don’t care how good his “cosmic” gibberish is. Whoever saw a person walking down the street and thought it would be a good idea to enslave them, won’t get a read from me. Kevin Spacey was one of my favorite actors ever and I will never watch his movie ever again. I’ve watched and loved “Jeepers, Creepers” movies until I found out what Victor Salva was convicted of.
On the other hand, I still have all of my Harry Potter books and collectibles. I’ll still read Charles Baudelaire from time to time and I fully intend on rereading Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” this year. Also, I still listen to Joe Rogan podcast. (sue me)
Most of you will immediately realize what brought this question all of a sudden. Two things happened during this past week that got me riled up. First, someone posted a mosaic artwork of the Russian President of Vladimir Putin on FB with a caption: “5.000 bullet casings collected on the Ukrainian front to illustrate the true face of war”, which turned out to be fake because the said mosaic was created in 2015. Second, Will Smith has assaulted Chris Rock on stage and the whole room cheered and applauded minutes after. Soooo, what’s wrong with you, world?
Needless to say, these two cases will bring out that already mentioned hypocrite. First of all, “The Face of War” mosaic art was created by Ukrainian artist Daria Marchenko, and just like other her works from that series of artworks, it is a full-on masterpiece. She also made a variety of other masterpieces in that same series and used materials she deemed appropriate to make her political stance clear. For the mosaic portrait of then Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko she used candy wrappers of Roshen, his company via which he amassed a huge fortune before coming to power. For the mosaic portrait of Donald Trump, Marchenko collaborated with Daniel D. Greene and used coins and casino tokens.
Needless to say, I personally feel that the sheer boldness and the audacity of this collection is quite magnificent. It’s a beautiful thing when an artist is not pandering to the masses, but making a stance and making their voice heard.
So what with this Oscar business from a mosaic buff standpoint? Well, I dunno about you, but I won’t be buying any Hollywood-related artwork any time soon. As Jim Carrey wisely observed, they are not “the cool club anymore”. Once you start applauding an assault, it’s “toodles” on all fronts from me, and that goes for mosaic artwork too. As magnificent as those pieces from “50 Faces” mosaic artwork show maybe, I wouldn’t go for most of them any time soon. Hollywood needs to get a grip.
So how about you? What’s your opinion on this whole artist-art-topic connection? Are you a latent hypocrite like me, or do you have a sturdier opinion? I would love to hear all about it in the comment section below.
PS. I also permanently deleted “I Believe I Can Fly” from my playlist. Toodles!
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41 Comments
Wow these are amazing and you can really see who the person is. I love talent like this and we do not appreciate mosaics enough
I can’t get over how incredible these murals are! They look so realistic, especially the Marilyn Monroe portrait! Amazing!
This is a great question! Some of Hollywood’s best were or are creeps! This is a fabulous collection of mosaic portraits!
I guess I view the art completely detached from the artist and their politics or views. Although, some art has the politics and artist opinions creep in and flavor the work.
No, You cannot separate the artist from the art. They should both co-exist. I wonder how these artists put together their talent and patience in creating such a wonderful images. The Marilyn Monroe mosaic exactly copied that of the familiar face of the star.
The Edward Scissorhands ones is amazing, I also really love the one with the candy wrappers and the Putin one with the bullets is very clever.
An art reflects an artist personality on my end. It shows in one or most details in the artwork
These are some really cool art pieces. I love how they look!
All these mosaics are pieces of art. And they reflect the artist’s intentions and unique take on the world’s people and conditions.
simple answer, no. there might be some explanations to negate it but I think it cannot happen ultimately
Those mosaics really are stunning. It’s such an interesting post, and I can definitely see your point of view. I’m not sure where I stand on this, but if I’ve been put off by the artist, I’m less likely to want to view or read their work.
I love art in general, every kind of it. Love these pics. I think that the hand of an artist is visible, you are able to associate it to a painting for example. – Paolo
I saw the Will Smith incident and I think it was staged to get attention, but am not sure of course
it is a very interesting question to me. I think art connects with my heart, my emotions and my mind. And it is an impact artist de-facto makes on me personally. I think it is more likely to have art and the artist connected all the time. Fully or not – that is the real question me. Can I deny an aspect of life and personality of the artist while supporting other? I still have no answer
I have a hard time separating the art from the artist and have given up on most of Hollywood & watching most movies… That being said, these mosaics are stunning! (Regardless of the person portrayed, the artists have done incredible work) Does that make me a hypocrite also? Great read!
What an interesting concept. I try very hard to know the artists behind the works I support, and if those artists aren’t the best people, I find myself not supporting them as much. There was a guy who did lots of oil paintings of food – which is really cool – but he’s hugely into NFTs which I disagree with, so I cannot find myself supporting him.
I admit that the mosaic, with such large pieces, to reproduce faces does not fall within an aesthetic canon that I like, but … as always you open up a world to me about this reality! ^_^
Her work is so brave and so important.
I’m sold on this mosaic portrait murals. they’re so bold and colourful and i will like to have one at home!
Well, it looks like I, too, am a latent hypocrite and I am cool with that. My opinion is quite similar to yours.
For me, separating the artist from their work is easy. They are two completely different things. I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I don’t agree with JK Rowling on a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy her work. Will Smith has been one of my favorite actors since I was a kid watching Fresh Prince with my dad. Again, I don’t agree with the things he does, but his movies still remain among my all-time favorites, especially Men In Black.
I think what the artist is trying to communicate comes out of his experiences and his own personality. It is very hard to discounnect the artist from the arts.
These mosaic portrait murals look so real. Each one is an amazing piece of art. Liked immensely.
Wow, these are fantastic. So many talented artists and pieces of mosaic are found on your website!
my answer is NO.. just look at how amazing those pieces of artwork creatively done by the artist. They’re always be togerther like body and soul
Wow wow wow! I was able to identify each…the Sophie Lauren one looks like it was incredibly difficult to create due to the different shadings. Gorgeous pieces!
Wow, what a beautiful piece of artwork. These mosaic are really a great work of art.
As someone who is an actress and musician, yes you can separate the art from the artist. They are two separate entities and characters they should be mixed together
For me, I guess no.
All mosaics and artworks you showed us are amazingly beautiful!
Wow those mosaics look so much like the people. Although my fav is deffo Edward Scissorhands as it’s one of my fav movies x
These are all amazing!
Wow!! Some stunning mosaics artwork of the artist, and I can’t differentiate the both as I love the art and the artist. the Marilyn Monroe portrait looks stunning
Wow these Mosaic portraits are just next level, so amazing, what talented artists
Laura x
Yes I can separate the two, sometimes you have to when you adore the art but don’t really like the artist.
Wow these are stunning! I cannot believe how realistic they all look and I especially love the one of Edward Scissorhands! Amazing!
These pieces are just stunning. The amount of attention to detail is incredible and how accurate they are too! Truly works of art 😀
Wow these are so cool, so many talented artists. I’m a huge Tim Burton fan so the Edward Scissorhands one is my favourite x
As a fan of Johnny, I really love that Edward Scissorhands artwork, and all the others look amazing as well.
Wow, these mosaics are truly beauties to behold! I can’t believe some of the incredible detail on these!
Wow incredible I have never seen any of these before – so stunning! Especially love the Lady Gaga one.
I guess it is difficult to separate art from the artist. After all, we tend to appreciate art more if we understand the inspiration of the artist. Like where is it coming from. 🙂