How To Write & Use an Artist Statement Professionally

Every successful artist has clarity of vision, a unique voice, or an intriguing persona and mission. Even more, they can communicate that vision, style, or backstory convincingly. This is where the artist statement comes into place. An artist statement is a personal text describing your artistic practice, technique, creative process, subject matter, and some specific works or series of works, enabling the artist to put their art into words and share them convincingly and consistently. As a result, in this article, we provide a complete step-by-step guide and a spreadsheet working document to write your artist statement professionally.

Before we begin with the first step and part of your artist statement, it is essential to know why you need this artist statement and also how to use it. Throughout your career, you will be tested, questions will be asked, and you will have to talk about your art and artistic practice. As a result, writing a professional artist statement is the perfect preparation to be able to stand your ground, provide context, convince collectors, or intrigue the readers and viewers of an online art platform. This can—and often is—the difference between success and failure, a sale or no sale, your works being exhibited at a gallery, or remaining unseen. If you have never prepared anything in writing about your art, chances are you will fall through the basket or make an unsure and unconvincing impression. And in the art world, we don’t get many chances. So we need to ensure we’re prepared and ready, which is precisely what we’ll be doing today.

All too often, people see the artist statement as a short text you need to have on your artist website—especially in the United States. However, as we have illustrated and discussed in our extensive survey and tutorial on how to create an industry-approved artist website, successful emerging and established artists never share such an artist statement on their website. We see it only with hobby artists or artists pursuing a self-represented career path and selling their art as decoration. In the high-end art world, writing about yourself in the first person is frowned upon and not done, as your website should include a professional artist biography written in the third person describing your work and career.

Your artist statement is a more personal document and tool. By putting your vision in writing, you can finetune and polish that vision. You can study and change it to make it more concise, specific, and to the point. You can fall back on this solid and all-encompassing foundation whenever you need to. You won’t struggle to find the right words because the words are already there. You’ll feel confident, tell your story in the best way possible, and tell it consistently from show to show, from curator to critic, press to peers, gallery director to collector. Once you have such a strong and professional artist statement, you can rely on it for the rest of your career.

So, here is how to write one. Feel free to set up your own working document using this tutorial, or consider using our artist statement spreadsheet, streamlining this process to make things easier and less time-consuming. The spreadsheet consists of additional instructions, and ChatGPT prompts to professionalize your text and writing, especially if your English writing skills are not great. The prompts are designed to have the right tone that is in line with the expectations of the art world, resulting in a text that is professional and ready to use.

1. The First Must-Have Key Sentences

The first three sentences are key. Not just for your artist statement but for your entire career as an artist. More than not, in the art world, you only get three sentences to make an impression. For instance, when you are networking in the art world, when you are asked by an interviewer to introduce yourself, or when another artist presents you to their gallery director. The first three sentences are a kind of elevator pitch, a concise and accurate description of who you are and what you create.

Make sure to include:

→ Who you are
→ Where you are from or where you are based
→ What type of artist you are in terms of artistic discipline(s)
→ What type of work you create or are best known for
→ The meaning or purpose of your work in a nutshell

These first sentences will also be the first sentences of your artist bio. So, let’s illustrate this with a few examples:

E.g. 1, “Michaël Borremans is a contemporary painter born in 1963 in Geraardsbergen, residing and working in Ghent. In his unsettling figurative drawings and paintings, Borremans renders enigmatic figures and still lifes as he rejects narrative clarity in favor of wry commentary on painting itself. His canvases simultaneously evoke nostalgia, dark comedy, the surreal, and the grotesque; awkward poses, heightened situations, absurd costumes, a general sense of discomfort, and stark, muted backgrounds feature prominently throughout Borremans’s oeuvre.”

E.g. 2, “Marina Abramovic, born in 1946 in Belgrade, pioneered the use of performance as a visual art form in which the body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. Abramovic’s concern is with creating works that ritualize the simple actions of everyday life like lying, sitting, dreaming, and thinking; in effect the manifestation of a unique mental state.”

E.g. 3, “Born in Colombia and based in various locations, Oscar Murillo (b. 1986) is known for an inventive and itinerant practice that encompasses paintings, works on paper, sculptures, installations, actions, live events, collaborative projects, and videos. Taken as a whole, his body of work demonstrates a sustained emphasis on the notion of cultural exchange and the multiple ways in which ideas, languages, and even everyday items are displaced, circulated, and increasingly intermingled.”

E.g. 4, “Belgian artist Luc Tuymans (b. 1958, Mortsel) is known for a distinctive style of painting that demonstrates images’ power to simultaneously communicate and withhold. Emerging in the 1980s, Tuymans pioneered a decidedly non-narrative approach to figurative painting, instead exploring how information can be layered and embedded within certain scenes and signifiers. Based on preexisting imagery culled from a variety of sources, his works are rendered in a muted palette that is suggestive of a blurry recollection or a fading memory.”

Please note how, with every single text, we know within three sentences the who, where, what, and how. They specifically describe and summarize what they do, enabling the reader to have an idea of who the artist is, how the work looks, and what it’s about. Aim to do this as well. It is not an easy task to summarize your work in just three sentences. As a result, these three sentences are not only the most important but also the most challenging.

2. Technique, Process & Style

Up next, it is time to extensively discuss and describe your visual language or art style and your technique. Start with the basics first, your technique. In the previous chapter, you mentioned your artistic discipline(s). Now, it is time to expand on them and dissect them further. Do not refer to your technique as mixed-media, especially as hobby artists predominantly use this term; plus, it does not provide any specific information and can thus be pretty much anything. Discuss all individual material attributes and how you use them. For instance, you can state that you are a painter, but do you paint with oils or acrylics? Do you paint on wood or on canvas? When we are describing the technique, we are also looking for your so-called unique selling proposition (USP). What makes your technique recognizable and yours only? This can be a unique combination of materials or a characteristic use of a more conventional combination. So, how does your work stand out technically? Let’s illustrate this with a few examples.

Is there anything unique about your medium prior to using it? Think of using raw pigment or thickening your paint to create your own substance, such as Bram Bogart, or thinning it down, such as Robert Janitz. Or, as a sculptor, using found objects as ready-mades, such as the unmade bed by Tracey Emin, or a shark with Damien Hirst. Or is there a particular and dominant presence of a certain material? Think of the steel patina with Richard Serra or the use of yarn by Fred Sandback. Is your surface unique? For instance, Rémy Hysbergue, who paints on velvet, or Claire Tabouret, using rugs? Is there a unique implementation of your medium? For instance, horizontal bands of squeezed paint in Andy Denzler’s oil paintings or the use of spray paint with Katharina Grosse’s abstracts. Is there a unique methodology in your process? For instance, the research and use of archival imagery with Marlene Dumas or Rinus Van de Velde, who creates an entire scenography to depict his fictional narratives. Is there a unique way of finishing your painting? For instance, the encaustic haze of YZ Kami’s portraits or Maya Makino, who dyes her wooden panels in indigo.

So look for the following things within your technique:

→ Unique medium?
→ Unique surface?
→ Characteristic use of your medium?
→ Unique creation process?
→ Unique finishing process?

These technical aspects result in a certain visual outcome, a personal visual language known as your art style. In your artist statement, we want to describe this style and point out what makes it unique and relevant. You can start broad, before discussing the characteristic aspects in detail. Let’s start by mentioning your overall style. For instance, naturalistic figuration such as Guillaume Bresson, expressive figuration such as Anselm Kiefer, or text paintings such as Ben Vautier. Minimal abstraction, such as Imi Knoebel, gestural abstraction, such as Oscar Murillo, or conceptual abstraction, such as Pieter Vermeersch.

We have numerous possibilities and sub-niches here discussing the overall visual language, so make sure you know your niche within contemporary art. The best way to do this, is by finding established artists whose works are in a similar aesthetic or style. We provide a great exercise to find these artists in our article on Gatekeeping & the Subjectivity of Art in the Art World, so feel free to read that article next. Go through the artist biographies of those artists and find out how they describe their overall style or niche. Use these examples to describe yours by discovering the right jargon and terminology that is being used by renowned art critics and galleries.

Now, we can also go a bit more in-depth and discuss what makes your work stand out and provides a certain amount of recognizability. Describe your style. Look for personal visual elements such as brushwork, color, texture, composition, visual motifs, et cetera. As extensively discussed in our article on style & consistency, we need to have a good balance of characteristic elements and visual trademarks to ensure recognizability while being able to provide variety to avoid becoming a gimmick artist. Think of the recognizable brushwork of Luc Tuymans, the blurry haze on top of Gerhard Richter’s photo paintings, Yayoi Kusama‘s colorful polka dots and pumpkins, the recognizable color palette and approach toward the composition of Neo Rauch, the use of collage elements in Adrian Ghenie‘s work, Agnes Martin’s minimal and monochromatic grids, Anthony Gormley’s use of steel squares to build his figures, Louise Bourgeois‘ spiders and cages, Sean Scully’s vertical and horizontal bands, and so on.

So look for the following things to describe your personal style, trademarks, and what you are best known for:

→ Recognizable visual aspects (brushwork, texture, palette, etc.)
→ Characteristic compositional elements in line or color (monochromatic, use of primary colors, vertical and horizontal bands, etc.)
→ Recurring visual motifs (e.g., the grid, pumpkins & polka dots, spiders & cages, etc.)

Write these things down in a fluent, descriptive, and concise text. Whenever someone asks about your style or technique, this is the chapter that will be your answer. Feel free to write a short version and a more extensive version of this aspect, especially when it comes to complicated techniques and processes.

3. Subject Matter & Vision

Subject matter all starts with what you aim to depict and why. This is an aspect where many people struggle. Some artists have no clear subject matter at all because they are predominantly interested in the technical and visual, whereas others make things incredibly complicated, bombarding their audience with an abundance of information that loses the essence and power of the message. So how can we write professionally about our subject matter or, in the first place, develop one? To become a successful artist, you need to have a clear vision and subject matter. However, you don’t have to look too far or make something up just to be able to say something.

Instead, ask yourself the following questions and try to answer them as honestly as possible. If you cannot answer them, simply leave them blank. We will try to get you started with some common examples or answers to these questions:

→ Why do you create art? (e.g., contemplation, a creative urge, a meditative act, a therapeutic act, you want to tell a story, you want to make an impact, etc.)
→ What do you wish to find or achieve by creating art? (e.g., catharsis or expressing your emotions, communicating or expressing emotions, raising awareness, pursuing innovation, finding beauty, escapism, etc.)
→ Does your art have a message? (e.g., a social message, a political message, an environmental message, a message of self-care or self-love, identity politics, etc.)
→ Are there recurring themes in your art? (e.g., the human condition, technological progress, identity, migration, nature, spirituality, etc.)
→ Does your art explore philosophical issues? (e.g., metaphysics, ethics, the sublime, illusions, etc.)
→ Is your art part of an artist persona as Gesamtkunstwerk (e.g., Banksy, Jonathan Meese, etc.)
→ Does your art have a dominant narrative or multiple narratives? (e.g., sharing or dealing more personal and intimate narratives, mythological narratives, everyday events, illustrating socio-political issues, etc.)
→ Does your art engage with the (recent) art-historical canon? (e.g., art-historical references, dealing with contemporary art issues, reflecting on the state of art, redefining artistic disciplines, etc.)
→ Does your art explore art for the sake of art? (e.g., stylistic innovation, exploring the possibilities and limitations of a certain technique, exploring a specific methodology or process, etc.)

Please note that you do not have to answer all the questions. In fact, the more you can focus on one question, the more comprehensive your vision will be. Sometimes, you can intertwine two or perhaps three of the questions above into a single text. Once more, reading artist biographies and press releases specifically about the subject matter is a great way to find inspiration and understand how you can talk and write about certain topics. But, of course, never steal a vision or copy and paste a text.

If you are unable to answer any of the questions above with something specific and unique and always seem to remain rather vague or use clichés (as we’ll discuss some clichés to avoid below), perhaps your art is not ready from the perspective of the subject matter to stand its ground in a high-end environment. Don’t use a mere alibi to create something; neither will it work if you make something up afterward. Your subject matter needs to have true intent right from the start. Your story needs to make sense, from artwork to artwork; otherwise, the message will never come across. Please note that you do not want to overdo it either. Your role is being an artist and creating. Leave some aspects of your subject matter deliberately open for others instead of artificially trying to fill in the blanks. Describe your work, but do not make everything overly rigid and fixed.

To conclude, here are some of the most important “don’ts” or common mistakes:

→ Don’t invent new terms or -isms. Inventing a new art movement for your own art is a common but ridicule mistake. A movement consists of multiple artists. Don’t confuse a movement with a personal style, otherwise, we would have as many movements as artists.
→ Avoid clichés that are overly used and in essence say nothing. Think of “expressing feelings and emotions,” or “inspired by the world around us,” or “a unique combination of abstraction and figuration.”
→ Don’t make your art sound overly complex, intellectual or pompous. Remain formal and do not try to oversell yourself. If your art does not consist of a clear message, narrative, socio-political statement, that is fine. The medium can be the message. The process can be the message. And so on.

4. Important Series & Exhibitions

Having condensed everything in the first three key sentences and having discussed the technique, style, and subject matter of the art, it is now time to connect this to some specific examples that illustrate these things or have shaped them. When revisiting and discussing your oeuvre, we can identify different periods, series, and milestone exhibitions that have defined your art and career. In order to communicate about your art adequately, you must first understand it. Therefore, it is very important to survey and overview your work from this retrospective perspective. Identify these series, moments, and exhibitions, capture their significance, and put them down into writing.

So, which periods can we identify in your work? What is the overall evolution or trend through time? Describe these periods using the same questions and things to look for, as we have discussed in the previous two chapters. What series were breakthrough moments, stylistically, conceptually, or even career-wise? This information is also very often used in artist biographies, so let’s present some examples:

Excerpt of the artist biography of Marina Abramovic by Lisson Gallery: “(…) She created some of the most important early works in this practice, including Rhythm 0 (1974), in which she offered herself as an object of experimentation for the audience, as well as Rhythm 5 (1974), where she lay in the centre of a burning five-point star to the point of losing consciousness. These performances married concept with physicality, endurance with empathy, complicity with loss of control, passivity with danger. They pushed the boundaries of self-discovery, both of herself and her audience. They also marked her first engagements with time, stillness, energy, pain, and the resulting heightened consciousness generated by long durational performance.”

Excerpt of the artist biography of Cao Fei by Sprüth Magers: “(…) Cao’s earlier works observe with great accuracy and empathy the longings, ambitions and desires that people often live out online today, and the consequences this has for their self-image. Video and photographs in her Cosplayers (2004) series, for instance, show teenagers dressed in the colorful costumes of Japanese manga warriors. They roam urban and suburban landscapes during the day, only to spend their evenings in the cramped confines of their families’ small apartments. They are the protagonists of China’s first youth subculture mediated by the Internet, and their daydream-like role-playing seems an understandable reaction to the unforeseeable upheavals of the society in which they live.”

5. Individual Works

Instead of discussing some series, you could also discuss some important works in your artist statement. Even more, it also a very useful exercise when you have an upcoming show to write a short description for every artwork on view. By doing so, you are prepared when being put on the spot to talk about a specific work, you can share the descriptions with your gallery so they can represent and promote you better, and it can also be used as a starting point for future catalogs or publications. Let’s illustrate a brief description of a specific artwork, this time a bit more personal with one of my own works as I recently had a show, followed, by an artwork description of a press from an industry-leading gallery.

Personal description of my artwork The Victory of Icarus (2023): “In The Victory of Icarus, we revisit the ancient story of Icarus, constructed to warn us of Hubris. However, in this case, we encounter the triumph of Icarus’ curiosity instead of the oppression of curiosity. By doing so, the artworks provides a metaphor and various analogies for alternative interpretations to remind us what we are via fictional and syncretic forgotten rites, aiming to liberate us—and perhaps, in the first place, the artist—from rationalizing what we feel, instead of embracing it. By doing so, the artist questions the use of fictional narratives to manipulate and control collective thinking and sociological behavior—a most relevant strategy considering today’s globalized world in a state of ongoing conflict and war of ideologies.”

Excerpt on Adel Abdessmed by Galleria Continua: “(…) In Jam Proximus Ardet, the Last Video (2021), the artist uses fire. The burning of a ship in the middle of the sea becomes the mausoleum for all the tragedies that have marked the Mediterranean Sea, which both connects and separates the artist’s country of origin from his country of adoption. The title of the work comes from Virgil’s poem the Aeneid, in which the main protagonist realises that the city of Troy is doomed to destruction. The brief video loop breaks with the narrative, opting for a single shot, a flickering image that seems to be coming closer to us. A ship in flames looms on the horizon, we hear the deafening sound of flames devouring the boat… Gradually, we make out the figure of the captain, who is none other than the artist himself. Stoic, standing on the deck, seemingly oblivious to the drama unfolding behind him, he remains at the helm.”

6. External Input & Professionalized Writing

To conclude, don’t be afraid to ask for professional help or external input. A great way to improve your overall subject matter, artist statement, and having a professional artist biography, is simply by outsourcing this and writing it in collaboration with a professional art critic.

Not only will this ensure you the writing is professional, it will provide you also more credibility if someone else is writing about your work, instead of DIY-ing all the time—this is especially the case for an artist biography. However, even more interesting is to hear the interpretation and thoughts of an art professional when analyzing your work. They might see interesting connections you were not aware of and that you can explore further. It is no coincidence that the studio practices of established artists most often have an art critic or art historian on their permanent payroll.

As an artist, you spend thousands of dollars on art supplies and rent. However, another great investment is working with an art critic, which is often not as expensive as one might think. You can work together with a, for now, unknown art critic. You can opt for a creative deal in which you gift and artwork in exchange for their services. You can grow together and support eachother in the process. Think of suggesting that very same critic when your future gallery asks you who you want to write the press release for your upcoming show, or the art critic who is including you in an upcoming exhibition they are curating.

CAI Artist Statement Spreadsheet: Working Document & Using ChatGPT

The guidelines of the six steps above are a great way to get started and create a professional artist statement today. Feel free to create your own working document, which can be a sketchbook or Word document, or consider purchasing our modestly priced CAI Artist Statement Spreadsheet. The content of the spreadsheet in question follows the same structure and advice as formulated in this article. However, it is a working document, streamlining this process, but also additional instructions and ChatGPT prompts to professionalize the writing without having to hire an art critic or a proofreader. By doing so, if you struggle to write fluently and formally in English, these prompts and ChatGPT will assist you further with its free version.

You can discover the Artist Statement Spreadsheet here, or feel free to have a look at all our career tools for artists here. All tools and templates are priced at an almost symbolic price of just a coffee, as we believe all artists should have access to these documents at an affordable price. By doing so, you will also be supporting our publishing activities to create as much free content as possible to empower artists in the art world.

Last Updated on October 26, 2024