Should art “reflect the times” as Nina Simone advocated? Why/ why not?

I believe that it isn’t the arts job to reflect the times. I believe that it should be the artist, and the person viewing the art. When I say the artist I mean that if the artist wants the art to have a political meaning to it, then the artist should include that in their work. All art shouldn’t have the stereotype that is made for a political meaning. Everyone has different meanings of what politics are and what might be consider a political view. In the article “No, All Art Is Not Political”, Nate Mancini states “…politics is not necessarily behind artistic decisions”, (Mancini). Mancini is arguing that when a artist creates art they might be not be making it solely on a political views. For example, Nina Simone does a great way of showing who she is in and raising awareness in her art, but could be doing it to raise awareness as others might see it supporting a political view. Therefore I believe that since art can be seen in many ways that an artist should state whether it is based on a political view, or leave it up to the viewer of the art to determine if the art is political.