Your Artist’s Statement is frequently requested from galleries, museums and the press.
Throughout your art career there will be many occasions where you will be asked to write about your art and/or talk about it. Also, many art professionals may specifically require an Artist’s Statement in order to consider you for representation, awards, and juried exhibition opportunities.
This article provides many guidelines to use when writing about your art.
It offers you the opportunity to convey your thoughts and feelings about your artistic process. It helps the viewer and potential art buyer understand the depth of your work, what inspires it, and the way you intended it to be interpreted.
What’s most important about your Artist’s Statement is to let your personality shine when writing or speaking about your art!
When writing your Artist’s Statement, you may want to ask yourself…
* What innate traits do I have that make me and my art unique?
* What personal experiences have impacted my creative expression?
* How has my cultural or ethnic background influenced my artistic vision?
* How do I feel about the medium I have chosen?
* How do I share my values, beliefs, feelings and philosophy in my work?
* What do I want my art to convey to viewers?
* How do I want viewers of my art to respond?
* Am I devoted to providing a healing impact on viewers?
* Am I focused on expressing universal messages?
* What lasting impression do I seek to contribute?
* What adjectives best describe my art?
* Which famous artists from art history or contemporary art do I feel a connection with?
When writing your Artist’s Statement consider these facts…
* Your experiences, education, travels, and idiosyncrasies form your persona and influence the type of art you create. I encourage you to dig deep and discover where your origins have impacted your artistic style and your source of creativity and then simply invite your readers into your world where you can share your ideas and feelings.
* If you are an artist who communicates strong beliefs through your art, write a statement that reflects those beliefs. Avoid being timid and shy about what they are.
* Don’t try to fit into a mold. Be yourself. Be the best you that you can be. Then, allow your artist’s statement to convey exactly what that is.
* Don’t force yourself to write your Artist’s Statement until you have strong feelings about the motivation behind your work. Relax, have patience, and you’ll be surprised how often it will write itself.
* Avoid using words that may be interpreted as having a lack of confidence or lack of vision. Also avoid appearing boastful and self-flattering. Achieve a balance.
Words from O’Keeffe, Rothko and Matisse ~ Their Personalities Shine!
What mood or feeling do you want to arouse?
We know that Georgia O’Keeffe had a desire to bring something to the viewer and an important message to deliver about her feelings about nature. Her words glowed with enthusiasm and reflected her heartfelt beliefs.
She wrote, “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else… Nobody really sees a flower – really – it is so small – we haven’t time – and to see takes time… So I said to myself – I’ll paint what I see – what the flower is to me but I’ll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it.”
What do you wish to arouse in the viewer?
Rothko wrote, “I don’t express myself in my painting. I express my not-self. The dictum ‘Know Thyself’ is only valuable if the ego is removed from the process in search for truth… The fact that people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions… the people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when painting them.”
He emphasized, “And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point.”
Shown here is Mark Rothko’s, “White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)”, oil, 81″ × 55.5″. This painting is part of Rothko’s signature multiform style in which he used several blocks of layered, complementary colors on a large canvas. Photo: Fair Use.
What important belief and message do you wish to deliver?
Henri Matisse aimed to express his emotions rather than duplicate reality. His passion for life and the world inspired his choice to step outside the proverbial box and predictable thought of reason.
Matisse wrote, “I don’t paint things; I paint only the differences between things… I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me. What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter – a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.”
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Many artists have told me my writing about their art has led to increasing their art sales, attracting publicity, gaining representation, and building confidence. They have expressed that I see positive aspects in their art that they were not aware were there. My writing has helped them face the task of writing their Artist’s Statement.
Today I’ve been battling with an artist’s statement that has been fighting me. Just the use of bellicose terms here shows me the mood I’ve gotten into. Instead of relaxing, as you advise, I’ve been tense and what should be a simple task for me has become an unfriendly day of worrying about style. So, thanks to reading your article here, my plan is to reread my draft of 600 words then restart the statement tomorrow morning when both the day and I are fresh. After all, it’s just a choice of which 600 words I’ll use.
Hi Jane,
When I’ve spoken to you about your art I was very aware of how articulate you are. Why not try to record yourself or take notes the next time you have a verbal conversation about your art, especially when you’re enthusiastic about a new work of art or new series?
This tip has helped many artists I know.
Relax and have fun!
Renee