Writing The Artist Statement

[Bob Carnie]

Drew I would not represent you without a well written Artist Statement. For the rest of your post I cannot but hope to one day see your work.

This is an international forum for photography, The OP is someone I know and respect and it bothers me that rather than supplying useful criticism for him and others to consider you provide outright denial of the worth of an Artist Statement.

Yes this still is a photography forum with people asking worthy questions.

 

[pdeeh]

drew is like the guy who turns up at a party ... and all the people who know him exchange a knowing glance and leave quietly but quickly

 

[cliveh]

So after your joke, what advice did you give her?

I can’t remember now, but I certainly wouldn’t have suggested a statement designed to impress an admissions officer which came from me and not her. It is important that education allows students to develop their own thoughts.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Bob, I certainly don't know why you would venture into a carbon-copy gallery model. Yes, I can walk a few blocks a way a read artists statements on "gallery" walls any day of the week. Of course, those are lab-attached amateur gigs designed to foster lab business itself. And yes, we all know you
run a lab, even though it caters to high-end work. But these are cliches, which in fact, are rare in upscale settings. No need. It's pretentious, wannabee. I have no idea yet if I'll have the opportunity to set up my own relatively permanent gig after retirement. Way too much to clear up first.
But the last sizable private installation I set up a few years ago was tied to about a ten million dollar remodel. Oragami-style ceilings, indoor/outdoor
koi ponds, the kind of stuff I deal with day-in/day-out. Obvious well-financed. All my picture frames were custom-milled out of various solid hardwoods, relative to the exact setting. The fellow still owning the biggest lab in town is in here almost daily. His digs would make your jaw drop.
drop. Even the truck loading docks have huge mahogany doors marine-varnished. He's getting old, so sold another of his personal lab/studios, which was a six-story highrise in downtown SF. Imagine what that was worth! Gosh, Montreal sounds awfully stiff. I routinely work with people doing
remodels of Maybeck, Julia Morgan, and FR Wright homes and landmarks, not to mention the most expensive wood homes being built in the world.
What do you think a gallery project by these kinds of folks would look like? I sure as heck have more important priorities in life than photography, but if I did take the reigns to a well-funded gallery design, it wouldn't resemble anything you've seen before. Almost pulled it off a few years ago until a particular city got anal about a couple hazmat details that we wanted to epoxy-encapsulate rather than remove at a six million dollar cost overrun.
I should just hit up some cronies to see if any of their latest architectural projects have been published in hardbound book form yet. I used to shoot
some of these projects when I was younger, along with doing the technical and color consultations.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Drew - I have not ventured into any carbon copy model. My gallery is not in competition with any other, in fact I work with many other galleries placing photographers, showing their work, and
and as well been able to work on many projects.
This topic is about Artist Statements and from every level of my career working on shows I can see a statement is indeed required as a point of entry , at the beginner point or at Edward Burtynsky's level.

 

[Peter Schrager]

Went to an artist talk last night at the pomona college museum if art. wwwpomona.edu
ROSE B SIMPSON was there sharing her thoughts about art life and what brings her to making the great art she does...it certainly helped me to understand where she gets her flow and inspiration
Artist statementS are about the artist not the art....get the book it's a great self teaching tool that breaks barriers...

 

[DREW WILEY]

As a business owner, you are obviously welcome to set your own display rules and should expect any potential participants to abide by them. But
saying that a cliche statement is somehow required at any level is like saying a marriage license can't be granted unless the bride is wearing white
and not any other color. It might be a custom in places, but I've never personally encountered it here except at a wannabee level. You get gigs by
knowing people who know people who know people, which potentially translates into mutual respect for one another's work. So the curator walks
right into my front door with a known artist or two, we pop some beer bottles, and REAL PRINTS are viewed on the spot. No paperwork. They select
the pieces, tell me the date of the show, and I frame em up on schedule. Zero paperwork. Like selling diamonds, just a handshake. A private gallery
will obviously need a basic contract form for insurance purposes or commission disputes. For awhile now my own house has been a mess due to unfinished remodeling, so things are not quite so simple at the moment. I got behind due to remodeling and selling a property across the state.
But not one artist in my own circle of friends has ever used an "artist's statement". The work itself is the statement. I have no objection to tying words to images; but if the images can't stand on their own merit, what's the point?

 

[Bob Carnie]

Drew your Statements leave me puzzled and perplexed I do not understand, could you provide some images to help me out here.

 

[cliveh]

I once went to a post graduate show of photography where each students work was explained. I found it informative, but perhaps more entertaining. Isn’t an artist’s statement just an embellishment and a form of entertainment? In other words an added sense about the work, but one which falls away when viewing the work cold? Which the archaeologist of that work can only judge by a visual impression. This is not to say that an artist’s statement doesn’t have a place, but only of limited value compared with the work itself when seen cold.

 

[Bob Carnie]

I was involved with a project called House Calls - this project got a ton of press in Canada's major paper - a major spread. But the real worth of this project was hearing Dr Mark speak about the work. He did over 80' lectures over a 10 year period, finally his work was chosen to show at the ROM in Toronto, included with each image was the story behind, basically an Artist Statement. This exhibit was extended to 18 month showing and over 1.5 million people saw this exhibit.

My point is the Artist Statements describing the work was every bit as important as the photographs themselves, they both had their place.

Now in Ontario we have a dedicated House Call team walking into seniors homes trying to keep them their rather than using up valuable Hospital beds.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I don't even own a digital camera, Bob. But IF this is what you're asking, I used to make high-end portfolios for architects and builders containing real
Cibachrome or whatever prints taken by me personally. It was a good gig because I'd get the shoot, get travel fees, color consultation fees, and in a
few cases a glossy magazine article, which I was paid for both writing and shooting (yeah, I do know how to write too, but not poetry), plus some of
they people were very well connected to the fine art world too. Networking. Nowadays architectural PR is mainly done via a relevant website. But these high end practitioners still go out and make fancy real portfolios books containing glued-in actual prints, and have them hand-bound for a thousand or two per copy. They handle them with white gloves, and this truly has impact with clients potentially dropping millions of dollars on historic remodels or custom furniture projects. I just wish they'd farm these sample books out for actual mass reproduction, cause these kinds of themes sell well as pricey architectural-interest coffee-table books. There was a specialty architectural bookstore just a block away for years. When the dust settles a bit, I'll try to set up my copystand gear and get it up to speed with a DLSR of some type. But actual darkroom prints will always be my focus. My lab itself is in pretty good functional shape.

 

[DREW WILEY]

You posted intermediate, Bob, so let me add, I have no problem with words and pictures going together. I know people who have published their poems beside their photos, specifically cross-inspired. I enjoy books with appropriate historical excerpts or personal reflections. I've got people trying
to get me to publish on various themes (which certainly wouldn't be plagued by typos like my web posts). Having preliminary versions of this kind of thing on gallery walls is a long tradition. Eliot Porter's first interaction with Thoreau was on a gallery wall. But I don't have much patience with anything stereotypical, if anyone even reads those things to begin with, nor with a bunch of mere technical details. Nor is there much reason to state
that this or that was NOT taken with a stupid cell phone, when its damn obvious anyway. But ya know ... today's convention becomes tomorrow's
cliche really fast.

 

[LAG]

It matters not whether you are an artist or a photographer, working out your thoughts is part of an ongoing process that helps you understand what you are doing or trying to do. Sometimes/often people cannot work this until after the event. It needs distance. You can try and work out what you are attempting for each project - in a goal-based way, but my feeling is that you never really know what you were doing until you achieve the critical distance that comes with time, with looking back at a group of work at quite a later date.

Often it needs the impetus of trying to explain things to another party to get it down – even if that party is imaginary – but it helps to look at your work through another's eyes, or just over their shoulder.

But what you write for your own understanding and what your are trying to write about the work for other people, may be two different things. I suggest not to tell people what the work is about or what it means, unless it is in a round-about way. Tell them what led to the making of the work, what you were interested in generally what inspired you, but then let them make up there own minds what it means, if anything. So write what you think it is and then perhaps write another version for potential viewers that frames their way of looking and leads to questions.

Of course if you are a dab hand at taking photos and know how to lead the viewer in by some preternatural instinct, maybe you just don't need to do this at all, because you already know what you are doing and the viewer can already sense that.

Some people don't talk about the work at all, they simply talk about life and everything else – and somehow that is enough to draw people in.

Excuse me

This is not only the best Artist Statement in this thread, but also which better than any other decribes what a AS means and should be.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Drew - not to be a doubting Thomas, but I would love for you to direct me to any gallery's that you have your work shown? Artist Statements are critical to success in selling your work in a contemporary setting. I think
that this thread should not be derailed with comments that really are out of synch with what is really happening on a world wide platform.

He's probably never had a solo exhibit. I have, and I have been in many, many group exhibits as well. I've never been asked for an artist statement for a group show, but always needed one for solo shows.

Group shows often only have one or two pieces from each artist, and many shows have a theme that everything in the exhibit conforms to anyway. I have a piece in an exhibit that opens tonight at Artlink, a local nonprofit gallery in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The exhibit is called "Indiana's Bicentennial." This year is Indiana's 200th anniversary of becoming a state. The state is sponsoring exhibits around Indiana of work that celebrates our history and culture. I was invited to be in the one in Ft. Wayne. No artist statement was needed, since the exhibit itself is pretty self-explanatory.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Nice try, Chris, but you're wrong.

 

[DREW WILEY]

... I might add, Chris, that I had solo venues before you were even born.

 

[removed account4]

what does any of this have to do with artist statements ?
its just a little something to put into context what someone might be looking at ...
in book form its a preface or introduction. nothing wrong with that.
sure work can stand on its own, it has nothing to do wth images
strong enough to stand on their own, or with a room full of heavy hitters.

nice stuff matt !
couldn't agree more sepia,
thanks again for the link peter !

national register? i've been very involved with the NR process
and HABS HAER for 25 years...
order to put someting on the NR or to created a NR District, there has to be context
and an artist statement is just that, context ...

john

 

[RalphLambrecht]

No , I'm not an artist I'm only a photographer, I don't need to do any naval gazing or trying to clap one hand.

a photographer takes images;an artist makes them;big difference. I am a photographing artist.

 

[sepiareverb]

...the last sizable private installation I set up a few years ago was tied to about a ten million dollar remodel. Oragami-style ceilings, indoor/outdoor
koi ponds, the kind of stuff I deal with day-in/day-out. Obvious well-financed. All my picture frames were custom-milled out of various solid hardwoods, relative to the exact setting...

...I routinely work with people doing
remodels of Maybeck, Julia Morgan, and FR Wright homes and landmarks, not to mention the most expensive wood homes being built in the world.
What do you think a gallery project by these kinds of folks would look like? I sure as heck have more important priorities in life than photography, but if I did take the reigns to a well-funded gallery design, it wouldn't resemble anything you've seen before. Almost pulled it off a few years ago until a particular city got anal about a couple hazmat details that we wanted to epoxy-encapsulate rather than remove at a six million dollar cost overrun.
I should just hit up some cronies to see if any of their latest architectural projects have been published in hardbound book form yet. I used to shoot
some of these projects when I was younger, along with doing the technical and color consultations.

Sounds like you were formerly either an Architectural Photographer or some sort of Decorator? Neither of these would have any need for an Artist Statement. The world of galleries and representation has changed drastically over the last thirty years, and these days the intellectual and conceptual underpinnings of artworks of any sort has become important to the people who view and purchase art and thus to the people who are in the position to promote artists. Pining for the good old days when a pretty picture was all that mattered doesn't make a pretty picture relevant in the modern artworld. That's what Instagram and the County Fair Art exhibit are for.

The Statement is a piece of the game. Required admission ticket that demonstrates that the artist is in fact considering more than whether the red of the flowers matches the carpet.

 

[sepiareverb]

I'm not implying that there is anything wrong with making sure the red of the flowers matches the carpet, that is a skill that makes for incredibly wonderful spaces to exist in. I'm simply saying that is not what an Art Gallery is about today. An Art Gallery is a place to engage with ideas that are presented in a visual fashion. I see plenty of art in top galleries that doesn't blow my skirt up. So what? I feel no need to attack it, or the system that presents it. Plenty of folks obviously have a different opinion about it or it would not be in such a gallery. And yes, lots of it is over my head. Again, so what? If I'm intrigued enough by what I see I may investigate further, to try and learn something, see something in a new way. And sometimes I can't.

 

[mr.datsun]

a photographer takes images;an artist makes them;big difference. I am a photographing artist.

Jeff Wall said something like this – There are photographers who hunt their photographs and those who farm them.

But I think I would add a further category to what you are describing – the photographer, the photographing artist and then the arting photographer.

 

[Bill Burk]

And the category who just putters around... the pharting 'tographer

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Let's keep the thread on topic. Artist statements are necessary for photographers working in a certain part of the art world today. If you're part of that world in some way and have something positive to contribute to the discussion of how to write a good artist statement, then please continue the discussion.

If you just think it's all nonsense--and I'm sure we're all aware that there are many here who hold that belief--then please refrain from posting in the thread.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Again, off topic posts are preventing those who want to have a productive discussion from having one. If you want to start a new thread about how you don't care for artist statements, please go ahead, and those who want to have the conversation about writing an artist statement can have it.

 

[pdeeh]

thanks David