The document provides guidance on writing effective artist statements, noting they should serve as an introduction to one's work and concerns through focused self-analysis and reflection rather than justification, biography, or chronology. It recommends preparing by answering questions about motivations and influences before "boiling down" writing through multiple drafts to highlight engaging themes without overuse of florid language or comparisons. The goal is to help orient viewers without explaining the work away.

1. Artist Statements

2. A Case Study

3. Case Study

4. Case Study
Artist Statement
"If you dig something, you just dig it." -Andy Warhol Why
do we dig? To reach the cool earth beneath the surface. To
bury the dead. To bury treasure, to search for buried
treasure. To escape captivity. To hide, to mark, to hunt. To
explore; search; mine. To dig is to work. When a dog digs
a hole, she is not destroying the earth, but displacing it,
altering its form to create something, in this case a void. An
opening, an entrance. Evidence of work. But how can the
absence of matter signify creation? Perhaps a dog in her
subjugated status has no choice but to convey her work in
the negative. By appropriating the perceived nothingness of
the human world and re-presenting it as her own species'
new ideal of signification, she empowers herself in a
powerless position. With the use of transfer paper a dog is
able to literally transfer her works into a tangible form.
Something for humans to hold and behold. A piece of work.

5. Case Study
…As a woman, and as a dog, Tillie is faced with myriad
barriers. While the obstacles that women artists face in their
struggle to gain the acceptance and respect of the
mainstream art establishment are certainly great, most
human women still possess the means to explore creation on
their own terms. They have the luxury, if you will, to choose
their medium, to select their materials and to decide where
and when they are willing to show their work. Women
likewise possess the voice to verbally articulate their
intentions, their vision. Tillie, as a woman and as a dog, is
faced with endless affronts and barriers to her artistic
expression.
Up until this point the art community has been closed to the
forces of canine expression. Today the world accepts Tillie as
an important voice for her species and our own. Still, the
works are fraught with limitations, with barriers. As a dog,
Tillie lacks the wherewithal to select her medium, even to
choose the colors with which to work. She has little choice as
to where and when the creative process will take place. And
she has virtually no say as to where, when and to whom her
work will be shown…

6. Case Study
One objective of the artist is to remove the layers of material
covering the meaning beneath. It is through documenting this
process of removal that the meaning is essentially created.
Layers also speak as metaphors for the barriers which he
artist must overcome through the course of her work…
… These layers of limitations, or barriers, can be likened to
the barriers of tape and transfer paper that separate Tillie
from the raw canvas and the completed work itself. But it is
by confronting these barriers, and working through them, that
the finished piece is created. An artist is not always aware of
the outcomes, products, effects and side effects of specific
methods, techniques, behaviors and applications until after a
work is done. Tillie often works in partial or complete
darkness. By working in darkness, underground, instinctively,
the dog reveals her natural inclinations to work, to root, to
dig, to destroy to create. It is through her art that Tillie is able
to convey a message of strength and struggle, work and play,
that might otherwise be lost to the world.

7. Case Study
So what can we learn from this parody of an artist’s statement?
The Good:
• Often uses active verbs and vivid descriptions
• Consistent narrative arc
• Connects the work to something outside of the
art domain

8. Case Study
So what can we learn from this parody of an artist’s statement?
The Bad:
• Attempts to justify rather than orient readers to
the work
• Turgid, florid and hyperbolic
• Lots of over-reach

9. Case Study
So what can we learn from this parody of an artist’s statement?
The Ugly:
• Not a good faith effort to understand the
work
• This is nearly all marketing and very little
reflection.

10. Artist Statements
Purpose/ Function
self analysis marketing
personal “mission statement” propaganda

11. Artist Statements
Purpose/ Function
self analysis introduction marketing
personal “mission statement” propaganda

12. Artist Statements
Form
Length
Narrative arc
Focus

13. Artist Statements
Style
Discursive approach
Rhetoric
Specificity/generality
Over-reach/hyperbole

14. Artist Statements
Style
In the following bad examples grabbed from
the internet notice the use of romantic, turgid
rhetoric, lack of specificity and the the
consistent examples of hyperbole and over-
reach.
We can label these:
“Romantic Redolence”
“Poetic Pomposity”
“Simplistic Simplicity”

15. Romantic Redolance

16. Poetic Pomposity

17. Simplistic Simplicity

18. Purpose

19. Purpose
Writing an artist’s statement is difficult
because if the work is any good, it is
very often complex—operating on many
formal and conceptual levels.
A successful statement in most cases
cannot accommodate all these levels,
so it must condense, prioritize, and
often ignore some of them. Do not think
of the statement as “capturing” or
“defining” the work. You are not trying
to explain the work away. Think of it
as a roadmap that helps viewers
orient themselves to your work and
concerns.

20. Purpose
An artist statement should serve as an
introduction to your work and concerns.
Like all good introductions, when
meeting someone for the first time,
Avoid TLI (Too Little Information)
Avoid TMI (too Much Information)

21. Purpose
An artist statement is not:
a justification: If you feel like you need to justify the work then you
should probably be making different or better work.
an artist bio: Include personal history only as it directly relates the
work.
a résumé: This is not the place to talk about any awards that the
work may have won, or shows it was in. Usually it’s bad form to
quote from reviews. It’s always bad form to quote yourself.
a catalog raisonne or a work chronology: “First I did this, then I
did that, then I did the other… It’s ok to talk about process or how
one work leads into another but you need to talk about how or why
one thing led to another.

22. Preparation

23. Preparation
Before you attempt to write the
statement, take some time to write out
answers to the following questions.
YOU ARE NOT WRITING THE
STATEMENT YET! Just get your
answers down on paper. Do not over
think it or worry about grammar.
Really dig. Do not let yourself off the
hook with superficial answers.
Spending some time answering these
questions will pay off in an artist
statement that is more informative and
compelling, and it will make writing the
statement MUCH easier:

24. Preparation
Why do you do what you do?
Why, of all the things that one could
choose to do and be in the world
would anyone, let alone you, want
to be an artist?

25. Preparation
Why the materials and processes
you use? Why paint and not
prints? Why clay? What’s the
attraction? Why wheel rather than
hand built, or additive instead of
subtractive? DIG! “…because I like
it” (it feels right, I enjoy it, because
I hate…, I was drawn to) does not
answer anything. WHY? Is the
question you need to answer.

26. Preparation
Who or what are the most
important influences and
experiences that have shaped
your life and your work?

27. Preparation
What does the work look like?
Take a representative piece and
describe it as if you were talking to
the blind or to your mother on the
telephone. Use descriptive
adjectives and dynamic verbs. Do
not overlook the obvious.

28. Preparation
What ties most of the work
together? What identifies your
work as yours and not hers? Look
over a long span. Are there formal
or conceptual threads that many of
artworks seem to be revisiting over
and over again?

29. Writing
Use the “sap to syrup” method.
It takes over 40 gallons of sap to
make 1 gallon of syrup. Write 2 to
5 pages. Boil that down to a page
and a half. Then edit that to a
page. Edit the page to a
paragraph. This works especially
well because you really need 3
artist statements:

30. Writing

31. Writing
Three Statements
1. The “academic” version. 500-1500 words.
Good for applying to academic positions, for catalogues or brief
presentations.
2. The “gallery” version. 200-500 words.
Good for catalogues, applying for shows, wall statements
3. The “press” version. 25-100 words. Good
for fliers, press listings, promotional material, exhibition listings.
Often combined with a distillation of the artist’s bio to form the
“blurb”.

32. Writing
• Don’t write “I think”, I believe”, or
“I feel”. You are writing it! It’s a
given. Avoid over- equivocation.
•Try to avoid over use of “I”, “my”,
“me”, “mine” use instead “These”
and “The”

33. Writing
Avoid too many comparisons to
well known artists. You will usually
lose in the comparison.
Always distinguish how your work
or concerns are different from
theirs, as well as any similarities.

34. Writing
Avoid pseudo adjectives:
interesting, beautiful, distinctive,
exciting, personal, unique,
pleasing, harmonious etc.
Also avoid redundant modifiers
that just pad the sentence.
Examples: painful toothache,
sharp needle, weighty concrete,
colorful paint, etc.
Here’s the test: Does the modifier
clarify the image?

35. Writing
Limit yourself to using the
word “juxtaposition” only
once in the statement.
Better still, try not to use it.

36. The Takeaway

37. The Takeaway
If you haven’t learned anything
new about your work in the
process of writing an artist
statement then you are not
digging deep enough. You need
to be more perceptive, critical,
descriptive and self-reflective.

38. The Takeaway
An artist statement should
serve simply as an engaging
introduction to your work and
concerns.

39. The Takeaway
Share your mania.
Focus on what motivates you to
make the work that you do.
Make your interest, investment
and excitement infectious.