Kelsey McKinney

There's a chapter in the book that I think is like maybe one of the last ones I wrote that is about Picasso and like what we do with gossip that we maybe don't like that I feel like I haven't talked about at all, which is maybe because it's like a little dicey.

There's a chapter in the book that I think is like maybe one of the last ones I wrote that is about Picasso and like what we do with gossip that we maybe don't like that I feel like I haven't talked about at all, which is maybe because it's like a little dicey.

Sure. So I write about how I have always loved Picasso. I was trained as an artist in high school and I love to go to a museum and look around. And it has always been infuriating for me that I immediately in any gallery, I'm like, ooh, what's that? I love that. And then I walk over there and it's Picasso.

Sure. So I write about how I have always loved Picasso. I was trained as an artist in high school and I love to go to a museum and look around. And it has always been infuriating for me that I immediately in any gallery, I'm like, ooh, what's that? I love that. And then I walk over there and it's Picasso.

And I'm like, this is so annoying because it is like very well known that Picasso is an asshole, right? Everyone knows this. It has like been known for decades. And I write in the book about one of my favorite books, which is Francois Guillot's My Life with Picasso, which is a memoir. She was his third wife, basically, had kids with him.

And I'm like, this is so annoying because it is like very well known that Picasso is an asshole, right? Everyone knows this. It has like been known for decades. And I write in the book about one of my favorite books, which is Francois Guillot's My Life with Picasso, which is a memoir. She was his third wife, basically, had kids with him.

And she wrote this memoir about living with him that is really, really brutal. It's this kind of like drawn out affair where she's like, I had never been more in love with my life. And then also he like burnt me with a cigarette, right? Which is like this terrible, right? Awful form of violence, right?

And she wrote this memoir about living with him that is really, really brutal. It's this kind of like drawn out affair where she's like, I had never been more in love with my life. And then also he like burnt me with a cigarette, right? Which is like this terrible, right? Awful form of violence, right?

And I found it so interesting to read because she's a great, I mean, the book is really well written and it provides you this insight into one of these quote unquote great men. But I think she also is willing to hold a lot more nuance for him than people now. Like she's able to say like he was an awful partner. He was an awful man. I had a terrible time being married to him.

And I found it so interesting to read because she's a great, I mean, the book is really well written and it provides you this insight into one of these quote unquote great men. But I think she also is willing to hold a lot more nuance for him than people now. Like she's able to say like he was an awful partner. He was an awful man. I had a terrible time being married to him.

And also he's one of the greatest painters to be alive. Right. And that is like a really complicated place to sit. And like, I don't know that I can even do it fully with Picasso. I can't do it with really any of these like great abusive men. But it's like that is a kind of interesting problem with gossip where it's like, does gossip discredit everything?

And also he's one of the greatest painters to be alive. Right. And that is like a really complicated place to sit. And like, I don't know that I can even do it fully with Picasso. I can't do it with really any of these like great abusive men. But it's like that is a kind of interesting problem with gossip where it's like, does gossip discredit everything?

I think sometimes it can, but I don't know that it always does.

I think sometimes it can, but I don't know that it always does.

Yeah, I think it's really hard to talk about this at this point in time because we've been through kind of the first wave of cancel culture. And what we saw in that is that no one really got canceled, right? Like some people got called out for their behavior, but there were basically no consequences for most of those people.

Yeah, I think it's really hard to talk about this at this point in time because we've been through kind of the first wave of cancel culture. And what we saw in that is that no one really got canceled, right? Like some people got called out for their behavior, but there were basically no consequences for most of those people.

Exactly. And so I think it's really hard to even talk about that in a nuanced way because it's like, well, there is no actual consequence here, right? It would be a different conversation if we were talking about someone who actually faced consequences for their behaviors, and then we could look at the things they had produced separately. And I don't know that we'll ever get there, but it is a

Exactly. And so I think it's really hard to even talk about that in a nuanced way because it's like, well, there is no actual consequence here, right? It would be a different conversation if we were talking about someone who actually faced consequences for their behaviors, and then we could look at the things they had produced separately. And I don't know that we'll ever get there, but it is a

I mean, it sucks, right? It sucks that the people who make art are people and that some of those people are bad.

I mean, it sucks, right? It sucks that the people who make art are people and that some of those people are bad.