I was recently helping a friend write an Artist Statement for a juried show. It seems like statements flow all the way from being rather succinct to artistically flowery.
Leaning more towards the former than the latter, I want a statement to use language that everyone understands. Yet, it needs to bring out a little of what is "inside" the artist as well. And not being an expert in any way, I did a little research to see what is said about writing one.
There are lots of great samples and sites that focus on this topic. You can find them by googling "artist statement examples". There were a few that drew me in. The most humorous was the Critical Response to Artistic Product, (yes, you can figure out that acronym) generator. You can find it here. Not for humor, but more serious content, I liked this one and this one.
One of the points made is although as artists we want to communicate visually, but our society mostly communicates verbally. And we need them to work together to optimize what we are saying through our art. That made a lot of sense.
So tell me your experience with writing artist statements. Any tips or tricks? Anything memorable from the process. I'd love to hear.
Love the "crap" generator...it was hilarious! I've ready some artist statements that must have popped out using that technique. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLori D.
Atlanta
I believe the artist statement is the hardest thing to write...mainly because you have to go into your soul to find why you make what you make....sometimes it is obvious, but more than likely, it takes alot of thought to express verbally what is in your head. One thing for sure, the less words the better. Over the years, I eliminate parts that are repetitive and it makes more sense. Sometimes I add to it, sometimes take things away. It definately is a work in progress.
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