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- Oct 9, 2010
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Well jolly good for them. Can you imagine asking Atget or Van Gogh, or Leonardo to make an artist statement?
That isn't how gallerists make their decisions amongst the floods of submissions and recommendations they work through.
And many visitors to a show appreciate additional information.
If I am viewing an exhibition of images by HCB, I don't need him to make any artists statement.
Well jolly good for them. Can you imagine asking Atget or Van Gogh, or Leonardo to make an artist statement?
I'm not sure how your process helps a viewer or curator better understand your work. Most artists's statements center on ideas and intentions. And unless a collector concentrates on process, they care about the image and not about how it was made.Sometimes, the technique has some relevance to the vision, as it relates to the form of presentation.
Jeff Wall comes to mind, as does Alexey Titarenko.
From the biography section of one of my most recent Artist Statements:
"Matthew’s photography is almost entirely film based. He finds inspiration in the world of the photographic darkroom - primarily with black and white film and light sensitive, photographic paper. He is particularly inspired by the challenge and reward of the photographic print."
Artist's statements are relatively new, although groups or schools of artists would issue manifestos in the recent past. I believe the individual artist's statement originated with the abstract expressionists. Today, when gallerists, curators and publishers no longer look at unsolicited work, an artist's statement is essential once you get your foot in the door.Well jolly good for them. Can you imagine asking Atget or Van Gogh, or Leonardo to make an artist statement?
FWIW, @cliveh added his reference to HCB after I started quoting his post.
An artist statement would be much less important for HCB than it would be for someone not well known.
Artist's statements are usually not for public consumption except maybe in books. They are a marketing tool to facilitate communication and understanding of a group of images or a project, usually directed to a curator, juror or gallerist. And that audience can usually see through art-speak. Photographers love to talk process, gear, etc. The general viewing public doesn't give a rat's ass.It's one thing to briefly state what motivates your work and I stipulate that this can be a useful marketing tool.
But the statement shouldn't be some art school pontification on visual intersectionality of postmodern, poststructuralist feminist garbage can theory. Some of this stuff is mind bogglingly self important.
But I do think the work should mostly speak for itself (or not, as the case may be). To me, if you have to read the artist's statement, it's analogous to telling a joke: Humor explained isn't funny.
I don't exhibit publicly (well, almost never), but when I show my work to those I know/privately, I never explain what I am trying to accomplish unless they ask after they have looked at it. I get the inevitable "What kind of camera do you use?" as the most common question. Right after that I get, "How do you see these things?" (I do a lot of abstracts.)
I don't mind answering these and other questions about how I work, the equipment, the darkroom or what have you, I just don't want them to know this first. I work 99.9999% only for myself. When I do show the work to others, I'm interested in how they respond and to which images, and how that differs from my own response. I am most gratified when the viewer's sensibilities match my own. Mind you, I'm not working with them in mind, but if an "outsider" gets what I am doing, it means I have something in common with my fellow man, and have not yet gone stark raving mad ... you may see it otherwise ...
Artist's statements are usually not for public consumption except maybe in books. They are a marketing tool to facilitate communication and understanding of a group of images or a project, usually directed to a curator, juror or gallerist. And that audience can usually see through art-speak. Photographers love to talk process, gear, etc. The general viewing public doesn't give a rat's ass.
I rarely if ever have been asked about the camera or process I use. Maybe because I don't make photos where the process dominates the image. Also, I would be dubious about anyone asking me what kind of camera as that somehow makes me think they believe the camera is responsible for the image.That's a fair observation, but I'm not sure I agree with the latter sentence. It seems when people see my work, all the want to know is what kind of camera, how it all works, etc. There remains a fair fascination about chemical darkrooms.
That's a fair observation, but I'm not sure I agree with the latter sentence. It seems when people see my work, all the want to know is what kind of camera, how it all works, etc. There remains a fair fascination about chemical darkrooms.
I rarely if ever have been asked about the camera or process I use. Maybe because I don't make photos where the process dominates the image. Also, I would be dubious about anyone asking me what kind of camera as that somehow makes me think they believe the camera is responsible for the image.
An artist's statement is a crutch for their work.
Perhaps it is, for some people. It may also do more damage than good, for some people. You can make interesting things banal by discussing them - probably more easily than the other way around.
Use the wood grip on the left and a 3D printed grip on the right.
Carry and use a monopod.
People do, in fact, believe exactly that more often that I'd care to believe. Social media is full of questions in the form of "I own this very expensive camera. They just came out with a slightly more expensive newer model. Should I buy it? Will I take better pictures with it?"
People are always asking me "Wow, what kind of camera did you use." LOL Usually shuts them up when I say, "Just an old film camera."
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