9. THE ARTIST'S STATEMENT AND RÉSUMÉ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3uJlIseOU0

Communicative purpose:

• the self-assertion of the artist's personal aesthetics/philosophy underlying his/her work in general, or a particular work/exhibition
• stating the reasons for creating one work or the other, themes, identifying oneself with a style
• describing own techniques and giving reasons for own choices
• sharing all the necessary information in order to be better understood by the public
• advertising oneself
• arousing the reader's interest and curiosity

media: a short text used as

• marketing material on cards, flyers, mailers, posters
• accompanying slides, photos sent to different art curators, art dealers, etc, in order to get promoted or bought by them; participating in international art contests; applying for international creation grants
• quotations in art reviews, in different articles (to illustrate/support the critic's analyses, interpretations, and evaluations), in art history texts (as a research source)

move-pattern:

          Move I. Personal philosophy/ies and aesthetics

Step 1. Art philosophies and/or aesthetics the artist rely on; general ideas guiding the creation; perspective on art

Step 2. General themes, sources

          Move 2. Personal style and techniques

Step 1. Defining personal style

Step 2. Describing the favored techniques

Step 3. Suggesting originality

          Move 3. Commenting on current exhibition/work

Step 1. Stating the general idea (or the specific one), sources of inspiration

Step 2. Describing the process of creation

Step 3. Suggesting the meanings of the exhibition and/or the work (details, explaining metaphors, signs, symbols

discourse strategies:

• a very subjective genre, hence the use of the first person personal pronoun "I"
• a type of 'confession'
• using catchy words and expressions to attract the reader's attention
• avoiding prescribing a certain reading of own work while still offering some guidelines
• implicating the reader (suggesting a kind of conversation)
• avoiding obscurity (weighing the amount of the necessary"artspeak")
• writing with the audience in mind (who do you address? is it a professional public or a general public?)

TASK 1: What do you think about the following artist's statements? Which do you like best? Any reason why?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HlMATZOMv_IUZLFHIsjIkX65Jso20JOqdJrd9sWJ6DQ/edit?usp=sharing

http://www.flickr.com/photos/majasavic/5619671565/

http://www.wesleyfleming.com/about.htm

http://vimeo.com/10369690

watch?v=uzHXus7dQlw&feature=endscreen&NR=1

watch?v=7CFQY0Yf1iI&feature=fvwrel

TASK  2: Read through this article; the author seems to disagree with writing artist's statements by mentioning some dangers of writing them inappropriately; he expresses a personal opinion as to who should write the artist's statement. What do you think? Should it be the artist himself/herself to write the artist's statement, or should someone else write this text on his/her behalf? Give reasons.

anti-statement?

3. http://hyperallergic.com/69378/in-defense-of-the-artist-statement/


TASK 3: What would you say about yourself and your art in your statement?

HELPFUL

The artist’s statements are sometimes supposed to accompany the artist’s résumés; therefore, the specific information provided in the latter should be avoided in the former unless that is relevant to the works. The résumé is a rather official document, a personal marketing tool through which the artist establishes credibility when approaching a gallery or any other institution.  It offers more precise information about the artist: a short biography, education, experience in the field, and recognition, all presented simply and neatly. It is not a full text; the information is supplied as a kind of title list, with the following headers:

The name à educationà previous experience (e.g. apprenticeships, scholarships, creative camps) à awards à exhibitions (solo, or group, the city and country) à recognition (newspaper articles, interviews, TV or radio appearances à representation (if the artist is represented by a gallery) à commissioned works (in private or museum collections)

TASK 4: write your own résumé. Below are some web examples:

https://code.tutsplus.com/articles/5-examples-of-beautiful-resumecv-web-templates--net-8895

            The two genres are meant to offer a clear image of the artist in relation to both the general audience (especially the first) and specialized audiences (both)

DEADLINE: May 16