The Artist's Statement: Some Suggestions to Consider

The primary purpose of an artist's statement is to expand upon your artistic practice. This could be by offering background information, explaining your process, or any other information that will enhance the critical understanding of your work.

Writing that is natural, that comes from a genuine, unguarded place, will always connect with your audience in a way that overly complicated, stilted words will not. Writing in a way that reflects your audience and the style of your making will create text that feels right to your reader and will show off your work at its best. The point of the artist's statement is to tell a story about you or your practice. It should sound like your voice and be a starting point for someone to want to continue learning more about you and your work. 

There are many arguments between writing it in the 1st person or 3rd person, our honest opinion, do whatever works for you and your work. Write in a way that allows you to sound like you, and to share everything you need with your audience. If that version doesn’t sound or feel quite right, try writing it in the other voice to see what happens. In fact, we go so far as to suggest that you should probably write two versions anyway, and then you have the option to change your mind at any time, and you end up with two artist’s statements that you can use in any situation. Writing about your work is as personal as crafting your work, and it’s up to you to choose what works best for you.

When we are working with an artist to craft their statement we start out having the artist answer these questions;

What is an Artist Statement?

An artist statement is a short but impactful description that gives readers essential information about you as an artist. Throughout your career, a variety of people will come across your artist statement. Among these readers, there will likely be some key decision-makers including curators, grant administrators, gallerists, employers, artist residency panels, art collectors, and others. 

When you’re not present to talk about your work in person, your artist statement is your spokesperson, and you want your voice to be heard. If you struggle with speaking about yourself or your art, it can affect how you come across professionally to these decision-makers. Unless you plan to have someone else create your artist statement for you, you’re going to have to confidently write about your work. Being comfortable in doing so will improve the quality and clarity of your writing.

Why are you writing an artist's statement? 

An excellent place to start is to consider who you are writing to and what you want to tell them. Suppose your artist's statement is requested in a submission. In that case, you probably want to offer practical background information on your process, making it easy for whoever is considering your work to understand where you are coming from. Suppose you have decided to write an artist's statement to accompany an exhibition of your work. In that case, it could be anything—simple, complex, an explanation of what inspires you, or anything you want to augment your work.

Does your work need to be fully explained? 

This is up to you. As a guideline, you should decide what serves the work best. Does the viewer need to know what materials you've used? This may or may not be relevant to the critical understanding of your work. Does the viewer need to know where your subject material came from? It may already be self-evident. The best thing you can do is decide for yourself what serves your work best.

If you answer yes to the question above, then;

Why Do You Make This Type of Art? Why are you drawn to this subject? How do you choose a theme? Giving a behind-the-scenes look into what drives your art is an excellent way to begin building an emotional connection with your audience.

What Does Your Artwork Represent? Does your art represent something about you? Does it represent a message about the world? Does it focus on a piece of history or look to the future?

Our tip: give just enough detail to keep readers interested and grasp your artwork better. Artist statements are intended to be an introduction. As the old saying goes, always leave them wanting more. Too much detail upfront and your readers’ eyes will start to wander.

What Inspires You? What connection do you have to your art? What motivates you? Enthusiastically express why you create what you do and your audience will feel more enthusiastic about it, too.

How Do You Make It? Why do you use certain materials? What techniques do you use? Is there a connection between your process and your artwork’s message? Explaining what goes into a piece can help buyers grasp the significance and scope of your work.

What Does Your Art Mean to You? How do you interpret the meaning of your work? Now, this question should be handled carefully. Notice that this question has no intention of directing your viewers on how to feel or think. It’s crucial to focus solely on your own understanding here because everyone views art differently. 

The goal of your artist statement should be to widen the reach of your audience. And, laying down the law on exactly how to process your artwork simply defeats the point and might turn away buyers. With the rise of technology like the iPad, you can share your words via video.

Read examples of other artist's statements. This, in our opinion, is one of the best ways to get a sense of what an artist's statement is, what kind of statement appeals to you, and what you might want to include or omit from your statement. There are many formulaic articles out there telling you "how to write an artist's statement in X amount of steps"—but then your statement will be just that, formulaic.

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