Life has given me many moments of happiness, unparalleled levels of anticipation and excitement: jumping out of a plane, marching in the presence of thousands, hiking with a celebrity, and consuming art from artists I love. I’ll be exploring that last thought in this post: Consuming good art from good artists!
I’m broadly categorizing anyone who creates anything as an “artist”. Anything includes movies, music, blogposts, books, scientific articles, podcasts, Instagram stories, and twitter threads…to name a few. A creator’s product is their art. I follow many artists that I absolutely freak-out when they release new content! Specifically, I look forward to new-music-Fridays, weekly podcasts and newsletters, and new movie and tv show releases.
MUSIC
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bryce Vine, Whitney, Quinn XCII, Drake, Taylor Swift, Weezer, Kanye West, DROELOE, Danger Mouse, Hans Zimmer, Amy Shark…to name a few of my favorite music artists. Whether it’s through noise-cancelling or physically screwing in-ear headphones to my head, the immersion of listening to a complete album is impalpable. Experiencing an album alone is good but sharing the experience with others is great!
Have you ever been involved in a gallery walk at an art museum?! I stumbled into one in Seattle! Hearing people openly dissect the intricacies of a painting is so wild. It amplifies the experience x1000! Why? Because it’s quite literally eye-opening. Thinking, listening, and sharing different perspectives about a single piece of art tickles your brain in the most fascinating ways. I strongly recommend it!
The same eye-opening principles apply to music (although, I suppose “ear-opening” is the appropriate term)! I love sharing and discussing music (see Music AUG-2020). Moreover, talking music is a great excuse to stay in touch with friends. If I’ve talked to you about music, you know who you are! Music is genuinely one of my favorite topics to talk about!
Exhibit A: My Justin Bieber tweet did not age well. I’m honestly embarrassed I gave a review of Changes 7-hours after the album dropped. Like a bamboo tree, I didn’t water it long enough to let the album grow on me. Shout-out again to my pal Ryan for demanding that I re-listen to it, 5 months later! Great album!
MOVIES
Christopher Nolan, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Stanley Kubrick, Alex Garland, Travis Knight, Ari Aster…to name a few of my favorite directors. I purposely avoid trailers and any media speculation to not spoil a movie; I love going in “blind” to the theater. Christopher Nolan announced in December 2019 that his newest movie, Tenet, would release on 17-JUL-2020.1 I immediately jotted this date in my Google Calendar, no joke. Unfortunately, the global pandemic had other plans for the release…and I decided against being the first to see it in the theater. I had planned to see the movie at a nearby drive-in, however, I inevitably got caught up in the media speculation that this movie was very, very, bad.2
The reviews convinced me to skip this film, and it took several months before I finally rented and watched it and watched it and watched it. You read that right. Due to the power of 48-hour streaming rentals, I watched Tenet 3-times in a single weekend!
In retrospect I am SO MAD at myself for hesitating to watch Tenet because it is a very, very, good movie! Sure, I understand the critiques: it’s unapproachable, confusing, and caries little-to-no character development. To those points, I loudly say “WHO CARES!” This is a Christopher Nolan film, a director who excels at making time-bending, plot-driven, and conceptually trippy movies! Digging into the fan theories and studying the mechanics of the time travel elements alone are reasons to give this film a chance (if you’re into that sort of thing). I believe Tenet is destined to be a cult classic. Overall, I reinforced my priors to avoid media noise and seek out movies from directors I love!
TV
I have one final example with Vince Gilligan’s Better Call Saul. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, this is a prequel/parallel storyline to Breaking Bad, my personal all-time favorite drama series. Few shows rival the constant chills that Breaking Bad gave me…and the credit is due 100% to Vince Gilligan’s slow, methodical, mis-direction story-building. So, why did I skip on Better Call Saul? For the same exact reasons I skipped on Tenet–poor reviews. Why do I keep listening to critics!?! Once again a mistake on my end, because no surprise to me, Vince Gilligan knocks it out of the park by building characters, building drama, and building suspense. My one-word review for Season 3, Episode 5 – Chicanery: BRAVO! I’m upset it took me 3 years and 9 months to discover this masterpiece from a phenomenal creator!
GOOD ART
So, what’s the point of all this? I’m hoping to get the point across to experience art from artists you enjoy, regardless of negative reviews. Furthermore, engage in ‘gallery walks’ with others to open and challenge your own perspective. I am not simply recommending that you listen to Changes or watch Tenet and Better Caul Saul. Please don’t misinterpret this message. However, if you happen to like Justin Bieber music, Christopher Nolan movies, and Vince Gilligan shows, then yes, I strongly recommend you tune-in! The larger point here is to not let other’s influence what art you shouldn’t consume, especially if it is from an artist you like!
To nudge this agenda forward, give positive feedback of artists you enjoy and urge others to check out their good art! I try to do this by highlighting creative buddies on my blog! (In reflection, I need to highlight more buddies more frequently!) See my previous spotlights below:
Keep creating!
-Steven M. Gruber
- https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/tenet-trailer-christopher-nolan-john-david-washington-1202162827/
- https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/aug/21/tenet-review-christopher-nolans-thriller-is-a-palindromic-dud, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tenet, https://nypost.com/2020/08/31/tenet-review-christopher-nolans-most-confusing-movie-ever/
Steven Gruber's 
I put off Better Call Saul for years too and regretted it when I finally watched it last year, so good!!
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Ah tell me about it! Ha, it’s unfortunate, but I’m glad to share this regret with someone!
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Been contemplating “art” and “good art” – your piece helped add to the conversation I’ve been having with myself about the topic so thank you!
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Thanks for reading! I suppose “Good” is subjective. That’s why I’ll stick to forming my own opinion from artists that I enjoy. On the flip side, artists shouldn’t worry what people like, their art speaks for themselves ☺️
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