YOUR QUESTION

05/16/2020 Sofia

Hey, I saw the "Cronenberg on Cronenberg" book on a pic you posted on Instagram. I was actually watching all his movies from the 70s until the "crash" for the first time ever on this quarentine and discovered that book through you. That came on the right time. What did you think about the book?

I loved it, although sometimes his point of view on politics x art (feminism and other stuff) is a bit too closed on one side to me, he keeps saying that the artist should have no responsability at all - a point of view that I understand, but do not fully agree, because to me there are contexts and contexts. But I do like when he says he wants those things to be a bit more subtle. It's a new perspective to me, because I've always related pretty fast with more politicized art, and somewhat, to a certain extent, art with political statements seems to be in a lot of places right now - take "Parasite" winning the Oscars, Beyoncé releasing "Lemonade" some years ago and talking about feminism and black people, and a lot of other stuff.

It's something relatively new to me to dig artists that don't have such a proeminent political statement on their work - in that I include you, Mr Bungle, Patton. I'm curious about what you think about this theme - art and politics. Do you agree with Cronenberg? Or do you enjoy works that have a more direct political message? Do you think that maybe this political wave on art has to do with the state of the world right now?

MY ANSWER

I loved that book, too. Read it years ago and pulled it out to re-read, which I haven’t got to yet. He’s a very quotable guy; very eloquent and direct. I have a leaning to agree with him about responsibility partly because, regardless of what an artists creates, it will be interpreted subjectively. If 100 people listen to lyrics I wrote there will be 100 different takes on what they “mean”. Part of the art, to me anyway, is creating something that has no meaning, or that I myself don’t even understand. Not only is it not my responsibility to explain my creations, sometimes I can’t. I personally have almost zero interest in politicizing my art. I also find politics incredibly boring. Now, if we are talking about social justice, for example, that’s more interesting, but still I find it…hm, tasteless perhaps?…to weave into the chords and melodies I write. And I am using that word literally.

I’m certainly not going to stand on a soapbox and say that politics does not have a place in art. Of course, the beauty of art is that it is individual, and it’s anyone’s right say what they want to say. If we don’t like it we don’t have to pay attention to it. If we find it harmful, well, that is also a different story and deserves action. Can art create political change? To a degree, but probably not on it’s own. Attentive people respond to subtly more than one might think and another beauty of art is hiding meaning within it’s form. The is a reason for metaphor. My opinion, my identity, my ego, and my beliefs are my own. Completely subjective. I will act accordingly in the political realm by, say, voting and making certainly life choices. But I have no interest in aligning those things (in an obvious way) with my musical creations. Powerful art might be a catalyst for self-reflection and exploration into deeper beliefs, but sometimes political art is more about the message and the politics than it is about the unique humanity of creating something and I find that distracting to the point that both the vessel and the contents are watered down.

I tend to look with disdain upon trends even if I do fall victim to them from time to time. There are too many reasons why trends and herd mentality are both dangerous and lack real backing. I often don’t trust them. But I do believe it’s human nature and a survival instinct to go along with the pack. Less likely to be eaten by predators. These days there is such an ‘us vs. them’ mentality that no gray areas are tolerated, and I love gray areas. I like being confused. I try to keep a grip on why I chose music in the first place — it was because of the sound and the feeling I got when listening to and/or playing with other people. It had nothing to do with where my genetics can be traced back to who I like to make out with.