UWE PP Lvl2 Seminar - Artist Statement

Title: How to Write an Artist Statement
 Date: 1/11/2011

Lecturer: Monica Oeschler

Component B - Professional Practice Folder (60%):

Within the folder you are required to submit a series of tasks that could be used in the future of an application for exhibiting in a contemporary gallery. You need to include the following:

1. A well designed Artist CV that can be used for self promotion within Fine Arts Field. One side of A4
2. A formal artist statement used for applications and work opportunities that clearly identifies what you do as an artist and what your underlying ideas are for this practice. 500 Words.
3. Clear and informative documentation of your own practice. You need to choose either: -a Power-point compilation on CD of 10 still images of your work or - a short DVD show-reel only if you make time based work (such as animations, short films, website or performance). Maximum 5 minutes.

(The Difference between: Reflective Statement, Artist Statement and Proposal: Reflective Statement is kind of an awareness of your development, Artist Statement is a public statement that present to outside. Proposal is a document for you to communicate between you, the artist and the gallery on how to exhibit your work.)

What is the purpose of an Artist Statement?

An artist statement is a general introduction of your work and your practice as an artist:

• It is the What, How, and Why of your work, explained from Your Own Perspective.
• It enables you to convey the meaning and purpose of your work to individuals and organizations you plan to work with in your own words.

书写创作自述的目的是什么？

创作自述是一个关于一个艺术家的作品和创作的介绍

• 用艺术家自己的角度解释作品的创作内容、创作方法和创作内容。
• 用艺术家自己的语言传达创作的意思和目的。

Why do you need an artist statement?

It lets you convey the reasoning behind your work:

• Why you choose a particular Subject Matter
• Why you work in a certain Medium or with a Specific Process.

It promotes you and your work:

• A well-written statement shows the relationship of you to your artwork.
• Helps others, professionals and public, understand your practice.
• Will make your work and you the artist more memorable

为何需要书写创作自述？

它让创作者传达创作背后的讯息：

• 为何选择指定的题材？
• 为何使用特定的媒介或创作方法？

他推广你的作品

• 一个书写得当的创作自述能够很好的表达创作者与作品之间的关系。
• 帮助业内人士和公众了解你的创作。
• 创作者和他的作品让人留下印象。

Constructing an Artist Statement is useful:

• It helps clarify your own ideas about your work.
• Describes your work from your personal perspective.
• Enables you to see your development.
• Can be tailored to individual applications.

编排创作自述的好处：

• 它帮助创作者澄清对于作品的想法。
• 用创作者的个人的角度阐述作品。
• 让创作者看到他的进展。
• 是为创作者量身打造的文章。

How do I construct and write an artist statement?

• Think about the larger issues and ideas that influence your work.

Note: It should explain what YOU think about your work, not how the viewer should interpret it.

(Remember it is not a press release.)

• Creates a list of words and phrases that describe your chosen themes, references and influences.
• Edit down your list of words and begin creating sentences using those words.
• Combine the sentences into logical, flowing paragraphs. Create progressive sentence statements, adding and/ or expanding on new points.
• What influences your work , what issues, themes?
• Where is your inspiration coming from, what areas, genres?
• Why you have created the work and what is its background?
• Your overall vision, what are you trying to say with your work?
• If applicable, how does your current work relate to your previous work?
• How do certain key works fit into the larger body of work or make up the body of work?

如何编排与书写创作自述？

• 想想影响你的创作的课题及想法。

谨记：创作自述应该解释你自己对作品的看法，而不是叫读者应该怎么看。

（切记这不是新闻稿）

• 列出一系列跟你的选择的主题、参考资料和对你有影响的内容的词汇。
• 用这一系列的词汇编辑句子。
• 把这些句子编排成先后有序的段落。然后增加新的重点。
• 什么课题、主题影响了你的创作？
• 你的灵感从哪里来？什么地方？什么类型？
• 为什么你要创作者组作品？它的创作动机、背景是什么？
• 总得来说，你的愿景，你想通过这组作品传达的讯息是？
• 如果能的话，你这组作品和你之前的作品之间的关联是？
• 在你列出的特定的词语中，他如何帮助你让你的创作更完整？

  


Start Writing:

• Begin with an overview paragraph that makes a clear and concise statement about your work, and support that statement with your reasoning. This paragraph should be broad in scope. Specifies will come next.

Note: Avoid making Big Claims about your work!

Note: Instead of saying my work does this, say "My work is concerned with issues of..." or "I am interested in such and such..." or "It relates to..."

开始书写

• 用一个简洁的段落开始阐述你的创作，然后用你的理由、动机辅助他。这一段落应该写得大略一些，细节会在稍后解释。

 谨记：不要为你的作品下太大的定义 ！

谨记：用“我的作品关心的课题是...” 或 “我对这类课题感兴趣...” 或 “他是有关于...”来书写，而不是“我的作品说了这个”。使用较为委婉的句子。

Tale the lead of what comes next from your opening paragraph:

• Explain how the issues or ideas mentioned in your opening paragraph are presented in your work (offer a specific example, or use several key works).
• How does the work touch upon these issues and ideas?
• How was the work developed in relation to these and ideas mention the process and/or materials you have used, if relevant.
• Avoid going into too much details, instead exemplify the key concerns in key work by referring to specific concepts, related cultural areas (films, literature) or reading you have done, for example art theory or philosophy.
• Point out themes in your work or discuss the Issues/Subject Matter that have influenced you work. How or Why.

Note: Avoid explaining your work rather think in terms of discussing the ideas and elements of the work objectively and analytically.

下一段，这么写：

• 解释在开头的段落中提到的课题和想法如何通过你的作品传达出来。（用一些例子，或者一些关键字）
• 作品如何与这些课题和想法产生关联？
• 如何通过这些提到的媒介，方法发展出来？
• 别说得太仔细，以其解释你所提到的一些关键字，用一些例子做引用，如：电影、文学、历史或哲学例子。
• 只出作品中的主体、课题与题材如何影响你的创作。

谨记：不要解释你的作品，使用客观和分析式的元素来阐述它。

The Final Paragraph:

• Sum up the most important points made throughout the previous paragraphs.
• The final paragraphs. The final paragraph allows you to reiterate the larger concerns of your practice.
• Avoid being prescriptive about your work.
• Don't offer an interpretation of your work.
• Rather think in terms of discussing the ideas and elements of the work objectively and analytically.

Note: See yourself as the reader of the statement, imagine you are a gallery owner or curator. What does she/he need to know about your ideas and your work?

最后一段：

• 总结重点。
• 重申你作品中关心的更大的课题。
• 不要定义你的作品。
• 不要叫读者如何解读你的作品。
• 客观与分析的解释。

谨记：把自己当成读者，想象一下如果你是画廊业者或策展人，你需要知道关于艺术家的什么？

Practical Writing Tips:

• Be concise and keep your writing simple, clear, and to-the-point. Express each point in as few words as possible.
• Proof read your artist statement for grammar, spelling, clarity and interest. Ask someone else with good writing skills to proof read it for clarity.

实际书写贴士

• 简单明了，直入重点。用最少的词语解释每一项内容。
• 校对你的文章中的文法，用词，句子是否清晰及阅读起来是否有趣。找个文书较强的朋友帮忙校对。

Technical Tips:

• Write in the first person perspective ("I created..." , "My experience with...") but try not to begin sentences with "I" rather use "In this work I utilized..."
• Try and reduce the number of sentences including "I" statements instead, say "The work consists of..." or "The theme behind the work is..." or "The process used in the work..."
• No longer than one page (max 500 words), single-spaced, using 10 to 12 point type.
• No fancy fonts or design layouts. Your name and possibly a date at the top.
• Be sure to keep your personal artist statement up-to-date. If your work begins to change or you tackle new subjects, update your statement to reflect your development.
• It can be helpful to save previous versions of your artist statement, so you can see how you've changed and grown as an artist.
• Tailor your statement to the individual purpose you are applying for.

技术上的贴士：

• 用第一人称书写（“我创作了...”，“我体验了...”）但尽量不要用“我”作为句子开头，试着用“在这件作品中我使用了...”
• 尽量少用“我”这个字，用“这件作品是由...” 或 “作品背后的主题是...” 或 “创作过程是...”
• 不要超过一页（中文应该是800字左右？），空行一行，10到12号字。
• 在页面最上边放上你的名字和日期，不用花俏的字形或设计。
• 实时更新你的创作自述。如果你有了新的创作或有了新的主题，书写新的创作自述让读者跟进。
• 保留之前写过的创作自述，他帮助你观察自己作为一个艺术家的成长。
• 为不同的场合书写不同的文本。

Other Useful Tips:

• Consider the situation of the person that reads your statement, i.e. put yourself in the position of the reader.
• Avoid lengthy descriptions or anecdotes.
• Use spell checking and ask someone else to proof read.
• Avoid making claims or telling the reader what to think.
• Avoid using complex language or concepts you are not clear about.
• Check facts and spell artist's name correctly.
• Take an analytical and objective view on your work.

其他贴士：

• 考虑读者的观点。
• 不要过长的解释和轶事
• 叫其他人帮忙校对。
• 不要定义你的作品或告诉读者应该怎么想。
• 不要用太复杂的文字或你自己也不清楚的概念。
• 检查文中提到的时间是否属实，别写错其他画家的名字。
• 分析式和客观的解释你的作品。

Things to Avoid

• Arrogance and Pomposity (How great or relevant you are)
• Grandiose expressions and cliches about your work and views.
• Over-use of technical terms and jargon.
• Long explanations or discourses on techniques and materials you use.
• Childhood or family stories, unless they are very relevant to your work.
• Bragging about awards and honors.
• Marketing speak :"Marketing strategies, by their very nature, are designed to be manipulative, while the power of an artist statement lies in the authenticity of its authorship." (Ariane Goodwin in "Writing the Artist Statement")
• Your artist statement is like a personal creed and should not read like a press release or marketing material. Strive for authenticity.

避免事项：

• 傲慢和华丽的文字（别吹嘘自己）。
• 夸张的表达方式和陈腔滥调。
• 别使用过多的技术性字眼和专有名词。
• 别拉长篇幅来解释你的技法和媒介。
• 孩提时代或家庭故事，除非他们和作品非常有关。
• 拿出自己的得奖经历在那儿吹牛。
• 别写的像销售文案。销售文案的作用在于应道读者去行动，是具有操控性的。而创作自述的重点在于它的真实性和独家性。（Ariane Goodwin 《如何书写创作自述》）
• 你的创作自述是你的个人声明，别写的像是新闻稿或是销售文案。争取真实性。

Example

Artist statement #1

I often work simultaneously across wide range of projects using a variety of media. MY work takes points in history and cross-references them to create remixes which comment on the present. I use this approach to highlight how history itself is highly contingent and can be constructed and manipulated, particularly in terms of societal constructs and their relationship with the natural world. I am interested in critiquing these constructions, operating on the fault lines between fact and fiction.

My engagement with architectural practice and form is often juxtaposed with elements of nature, and how man-made structure ipose themselves on the natural world and vice-versa. I have analyzed how an artist is situated in today's society and how context and place can inform art both in terms of content and dissemination. These interests manifest themselves in investigations into architecture and the idea of the museum as spectacle, as well as, how the rise of the curator is impacting on society's views on art and artists.

As an artist I view art practice as a range of multiplicities and am interested in how art has the ability to transform itself and create new pockets of investigation and discourse between media and disciplines, which allow new ways of making work, and new aesthetic axioms. I am interested in an approach at times to be irreverent to what has gone before. It is precisely the multivalent dialectics of art that makes it so necessary in today's society. In my own work I have a strong emphasis on the picture as a medium and continually interrogate what it means to make art whilst simultaneously interrogating the meanings of history and representation itself.

Is this a good artist statement?
- Bombarding too much terms to reader.
- Didn't mention anything about the work, no clue of work.


Artist statement #2

There is a tension struck between free reign and tight control in my work, between the impulsive and the calculated. The sheer impulse to paint most often destroys the initial precisely rendered forms, foregrounding commitment to the explorative instead of attempting concrete assertions. Peter Halley and Jonathon Lasker are as significant to me as Martin Kippenberger and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The discipline and self-criticism of the New York School is paired with 'bad painting' and more direct stream of consciousness philosophies.

There are no objects before the painter, just images on a backlit screen. Distant images of Unfamiliar mechanisms enter the authority of abstract space where different rules apply. The forms are fetishized stand-in's for people, they are flattened, squashed and contorted, suspended in mid-air, given new texture and colour as they interact with each other.

I think that the most unexpected or arresting subjects for painting already exist in the world rather than coming straight from the imagination. My sources can be any with which I have a passing or long term relationship.

Is this a good artist statement?
- Too short


Artist statement #3

My works have a simplicity to them, transforming the gallery with an economy of means. Many of them act almost as a backfrop to other activity in an exhibition space - subverting and affecting the way the space is viewed and used. Through displacing aspects of architecture, multiple associations and ambiguous situations are created. This sometimes makes it difficult to immediately ascertain what the room may once have been like, however, they always have a powerful presence and once they command your attention, you wonder how you ever missed them. My intention is for the viewer to see and experience the space in new or unaccustomed way, filling the familiar with a new vitality.

Rather than imposing work made for one situation into a different location, I make new work specifically for each occasion. I draw attention to the architecture and history of the building, using particular aspect that are integral to its character - creating a dialogue between the work and its surroundings. They demand a certain amount of contemplation, but prompt a re-evaluation of the place they inhabit. Through borrowing from the rich heritage of the past, the Works reinterpret, transform and adapt their surroundings.

Is this a good artist statement?
- Easy to read, good example as a opening paragraph.