if they can keep their opinions out of their art, you should judge the art on it's own merits.

seriously, how many of the old masters do you think you could talk to today and not go "godsdamn you're an asshole!"

being an absolute asshole, i must admit to a bais.

I actually agree with Orin about judging the merits of art and and of itself. He pretty much got it in one there.

That said, even if the artist is an asshole at first glance, there's no reason to not at least TRY to build something with them. For all one knows, they may just be nice to you in return.

Though there's also the flip side of the coin, the chance they may get at you in a very rude way regardless. Still, IMO, talking to them is at least worth a try. If nothing comes of it, the only thing wasted was your time.

Hmmm. I think Orin's opinion on the first part is right on. I know its hard to ignore personalities sometimes, and that can make the simple task of ignoring pretty hard.

Honestly- if the artist offended me that deeply, I'd probably not support their art, but that's just me personally. I'm a great sponge for sensing other people's emotions, but they also have an effect on my personal mental health, so in my free time (like looking at art) I try to make it as pleasant as possible.
I can deal with assholes in my professional time, free time is my choice.

But it all depends on how easy it is for you to ignore the person over admiring the artist. If you can find a site their on where they don't express much but just post art, I'd go for that. I know on a site like FA, that's freaking hard to do. Very few artists I watch (for good or ill) separate personal from professional that well.

And....there's my five cents >^.~<

If someone is truly and consistently loathsome, and/or too annoying for words, it does eventually become hard for me to keep that fact out of my mind while viewing their work. With furry artists and other on-line artists living such weirdly public lives, it's hard to avoid this problem coming up sooner or later.

As an artist myself, I can hold my nose and look at anything made by anyone, so long as I can learn from it. But I eventually stop actively seeking out even good work when it's made by someone despicable. I don't wish such people any ill will and make no moves against them.

But I don't have to look at their stuff or keep up with their projects, so I don't. I don't need to agree with all of an artist's opinions or politics or whatever, we are all a little different. But I draw the line at constantly bad behavior and bigotry. Some people can put it aside, but I guess I just can't sometimes. That's the good thing about freedom though, people have a.right to reveal what jerks they are for a wide audience, and we have a right to ignore them. Running into their apologists is harder to avoid in our small community though, and can be grating sometimes.

Some people make you want to punch them in the stomach before you bother shaking their hand. Bukowski, Crowley, Kerouac, that guy over there...you can admire a person's work without admiring the person behind it.

I can still enjoy an artist's work if I don't agree with their attitude, I just try to ignore it. But it DOES mean I'd be less likely to support them by commissioning them or buying other goods from them. I think an artist's attitude is very important, just like a company tries to keep a good image, an artist needs to be aware of the image they project.

I can admire an artist's work, but in my mind it can be tainted by an artist's bad attitude, and at times influence me to pass by most of said artist's works. It's sorta like a hot supermodel with B-O.