Comments on: The Struggle To Right Oneself: On Artists’ Statements

By: mera

mera — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:35:33 +0000

you are not meat!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:01:36 +0000

nice

By: jesi

jesi — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:25:47 +0000

wow.

By: jess

jess — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:09:28 +0000

Interesting pictures!!

By: Umbral

Umbral — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:49:05 +0000

as an artist myself, I see the artist statement as a necessary evil. on the one hand, some work stands alone as a single piece. on the other some pieces only work as part of a body of work made of several pieces. the artist statement helps curators, grant writers, and the general public understand work that is intentionally vague or subtle. it’s not the viewer’s fault if they don’t get it. much like writing short story, which I also do, the artist has to create a subtext that rises from the “not said.” with that, i have to say that i could care less about spelling and grammar, although important, i care more about what the artist statement implies. i also feel that it should be readily apparent to the reader what the artist is trying to say. fancy vocabulary or jargon only serves to ostracize the ignorant and further divide the “elites” from the real world.

By: Molly

Molly — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:01:15 +0000

If you find the relationship between Karbakka’s statement and work disjointed, it’s not the statement that’s at fault. In theory, the statement should come first since that is the intent. I myself find them to be very clear in their relationship. I also see the last two images here as being linked to both Heidegger’s statement about “…the primal qualities of the human condition as a precarious balancing act between the struggle against our desire to survive and our fantasy to transcend our humanness”, and the apocalyptic imagery from 9/11. According to Susan Sontag in her book ‘Regarding the Pain of Others’, one reason that we are so seduced by images of war and violence is out of an abstract desire to transcend our present states of being, our “humanness”.
Also, it’s tough to call someone out on their misspellings when someone misspells things themselves.

By: Mikey

Mikey — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 09:49:41 +0000

When I read an artist statement, I want to end up feeling like I understand the work more. In considering our own potential collaboration, I don’t know what I would want to say to people viewing it. Would my own feelings muddle the experience for others?
Usually if I see an artist statement, I’ll look at the pieces first, and then read it.

By: Lucie

Lucie — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 08:14:12 +0000

I consider myself fairly ignorant about art and likewise about what makes good art criticism… but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 22:02:41 +0000

I’ve never actually had to write an artist’s statement myself, but I have had to do the obligatory, ‘What is this work about?’, talk in studio classes and I’ve helped other people work on their statements. My tack tends to be highly specific and concrete. For most artist’s I’ve met, the reason they made something is usually more like ‘I wanted to see the shiny thing next to the furry thing’ than ‘to protest the racial disparities that result from global warming’. That second type of thing is mostly the result of art education and practice since the sixties which requires artists to be hyper-verbal about their work, I think.

By: Mikey

Mikey — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:45:07 +0000

Have you ever written an artist statement? I think it'd be interesting to read one you wrote after reading this. I bookmarked this a while back: http://www.nonstarvingartists.com/SitePages/Document.2004-07-10.1865503281 A guide to writing an artist statement by Lisa Radon.