ARTIST STATEMENTS

Artist's statement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An artist's statement (or artist statement) is an artist's written description of their work. The brief verbal representation is about and in support of, his or her own work to give the viewer understanding. As such it aims to inform, connect with an art context, and present the basis for the work; it is therefore didactic, descriptive, or reflective in nature.

Description

The artist's text intends to explain, justify, extend, and/or contextualize his or her body of work. It places or attempts to place the work in relationship to art history and theory, the art world and the times. Further, the statement serves to show that the artist is conscious of their intentions, aware of their practice and its position within art parameters and of the discourse surrounding it. Therefore not only does it describe and place, but it indicates the level of the artist's own comprehension of their field and making.

Artists often write a short (50-100 word) and/or a long (500-1000 word) version of the same statement, and they may maintain and revise these statements throughout their careers. They may be edited to suit the requirements of specific funding bodies, galleries or call-outs as part of the application process.

...it has become a necessary cost of doing business, a way for artists to help viewers (or curators, peers, critics) understand and discuss their work.

WHY YOU MAKE YOUR ART, HOW YOU MAKE IT, WHAT IT'S MADE OUT OF, and perhaps briefly, WHAT YOUR ART MEANS TO YOU

1. Avoid ‘art-speak.’ Speak from a place of integrity about your work not a lot of words that seem impressive. 

2. This statement is not about other artists but about your work.
          What am I doing?
          How am I doing it?
          What do I want other people to understand about my art?

3. Make connections to what your work is conceptually about and what medium you are using and for what reasons.

4. There is a difference between you and the critic. You need to know the histories that you are coming from, but you do not need to positioning other artists’ work in your statement. Trends, influences yes, name-dropping no.

5. I do not see it as wise to discuss how your work should make people feel. Once you make it and it goes out into the world then others get to decide.


6. Don’t use the third person, you are the one writing the piece.

7. People need to understand it the first time that they read it so be as straight-forward and clear as you. This does not mean that there is not a poetry of beauty in it, but be direct.

8. An artist statement should not be longer than one page in length. In some proposal settings you may be asked to write a longer one,. Some good artists statements have only been 3 to 4 sentences. Before you turn these statements in to me, have at least one person proof read your statement. Better yet, have two people read it; one who is familiar with your work and one who is not familiar with your work.