What’s your work about?

What’s in an artist statement?

I think this question is essential to answer – how can one talk effectively about one’s practice without this as a basis from which to work?

Artquest says:

An artist statement is a short piece of writing about your work, practice and wider intellectual concerns. It should act as an introduction to your practice as a whole, highlighting the common threads of ideas, motivations and process running through your work. A longer statement may go into more detail about specific works. A statement should give the reader a better understanding of where your practice and interests come from, influences on you or your work, and support them in interpreting what you do.

It recommends use of plain English and emphasises the importance of staying on topic – your practice – rather than questioning wider philosophical concepts. Consider talking about media used, processes, themes, ideas, concerns, outside influences, and explain what unites individual pieces of work into a practice.

I think the ideal statement reflects the personality of the artist, and a unique writing style is good as long as it isn’t distractingly quirky.

I also find the rhythm and emotive potential of words important. For example, break has little effect on me, whereas I find fracture quite emotive, especially when used alongside words in an alliterative way, such as fragment. Punctuation can enhance the effect so, for example, an abrupt structure adds to the impact of discord within a sentence. But perhaps what affect one is a very personal experience?

I believe an effective artist statement shouldn’t close down discussion – pin and fix things into position with no loose ends. Rather, its purpose should be to provide a launch point that gives the reader more information than they possessed before, but leaves room for manoeuvre for thoughts and interpretations to develop.

And if this entire topic is too boring to contemplate, there’s always Charlotte Young’s unique take on the artist statement – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v8DbLWAXvU!

http://www.artquest.org.uk/articles/view/how-to-write-an-artist-s-statement

What do YOU think an artist statement should contain?

Right, I’ve established the three words crucial to my practice, but where to go from here? One piece of past advice from tutors is to map concerns. My tendency is to over-complicate, so mapping risks submersion in too much detail. Never-the-less, I think this it’s the way to go…

Interesting – after some initial complications and brain ache, this approach has worked. It’s enabled me to streamline my thoughts, identify and remove duplications, and simplify connections. It’s apparent now my key concerns are fewer than I thought – the gaze and the fracture. It’s immediately obvious (why wasn’t it before?) that the photograph is a ‘red herring’ – not a concern, but rather the vehicle upon which these concerns are enacted, in a similar way as selecting artists work to discuss and explore ideas. At this point, the reader may well be saying ‘What‘??? But, believe me, I find this realisation crucial.

So, what’s the best way to document what I’ve found? My first attempt was to list the data hierarchically under headings, sub-headings, etc. This seemed to work fine but, when I tried to map this pictorially to reveal the relationships between elements, it quickly fell apart to reveal duplications and differing results to those I’d originally been aware of. The outcome is here…[http://clairemanning.co.uk/z_concepts_map.html]

I’m going to shift the focus of this blog – it’s due to an excellent talk given by Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley on Surviving as an artist. The key thing I heard was the importance of communication – of entering into a meaningful dialogue with others. College restarts next week and, yet again, I’m faced with the trauma of explaining my practice to others, something as I confessed in my last post, I HATE. But, if I can’t do this, how can I ever communicate effectively as an artist? I’m going to treat this blog as if it were a dialogue with a stranger, as I suppose it actually is, and I’m going to master the matter once and for all.

Glancing back at my last two posts illustrates my dilemma – how do I bridge the space between Didi-Huberman and Dr Who? One perspective is theoretical and conceptual – perhaps closed down; discouraging dialogue with others – whilst the other is more down-to-earth, less assured and perhaps more engaging. I know they’re different in nature, one posed as factual information and the other as questions, but still they sit somewhat uneasily together for me.

Rosalind and Annabel’s suggested starting point is to find three words crucial to one’s practice. For me, I’d have to say fracture and gaze in the photograph. Yes, I know it’s more than three words, but I’m advised it’s a mantra to be repeated until it becomes second nature, ready to pull out at the drop of a hat in response to the question what’s your work about?

Oh, and my last free tips courtesy of Annabel and Rosalind? Make the most of the chance to communicate – have a website, use twitter, blogging is good. Ensure you link from one to the other so, for example, add an automatic signature to your emails with your website address. And always be courteous!

Useful links: http://www.zeitgeistartsprojects.com/diy-main.html

http://annabeltilley.com/

http://www.rosalinddavis.co.uk/