The Artist Statement

What is an artist statement and why do I need one?  According to Gigi Rosenberg in her book, The Artist's Guide to Grant Writing, you need an artist statement for your portfolio, your website, graduate school applications, gallery shows, press packets and grant applications.  But she states that the most important reason is that "it's what you, the artist, express and understand about why you do what you do."  So I will be undertaking this endeavor over the next few days and posting it on this blog.  What is an artist statement?  Rosenberg states that the statement reveals your philosophy, your themes, your processes and all the other details your audience needs to know while experiencing your artwork.  It can be as short as a few sentences or as long as one page.  I will be exploring the web looking for examples of artist statements, then composing my own.  Below is a sample artist statement I found on the web.  Enjoy!

Jonathan H. Dough - Artist Statement
My artwork takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues. In my work, I deconstruct the American dream, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and lullabies that are part of our childhood and adult culture. Having engaged subjects as diverse as the civil rights movement, southern rock music and modernist architecture, my work reproduces familiar visual signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered pieces.
Often times these themes are combined into installations that feature mundane domestic objects painted blue, juxtaposed with whimsical objects, and often embellished with stenciled text. The color blue establishes a dream-like surreal quality, suggests notions of calmness and safety, and formally unifies the disparate objects in each installation. The texts provide clues to content and interpretation.
While I use a variety of materials and processes in each project my methodology is consistent. Although there may not always be material similarities between the different projects they are linked by recurring formal concerns and through the subject matter. The subject matter of each body of work determines the materials and the forms of the work.
Each project often consists of multiple works, often in a range of different media, grouped around specific themes and meanings. During research and production new areas of interest arise and lead to the next body of work.