# Artistic Statements



## Sia (Dec 6, 2011)

Wondering if anyone has had to ever do one? And if so, what genre of photography did they select and why? I have to do one and I am just looking for input. Thanks a bunch:hug::


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## hsoto (Dec 6, 2011)

it depends on the field you're more interested in..I had to do one once and chose fashion..what field in photography are you interested the most?


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## snowbear (Dec 6, 2011)

I did one to go with my last class project.  I just wrote a couple of paragraphs about my vision for the photos and how it related to me.


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## Sia (Dec 6, 2011)

hsoto said:
			
		

> it depends on the field you're more interested in..I had to do one once and chose fashion..what field in photography are you interested the most?



Well, I try not to subject myself to just one style. I njoy landscape, people, flowers, and objects. I did one photo so far. I gathered a bunch of leaves and spelled out I <3 U. Cheesy but I liked it. I see it done in sand a lot, so I said y not.


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## unpopular (Dec 6, 2011)

An artist statement isn't so much about what you are doing, but why you are doing it and why it's important to you.


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## hsoto (Dec 6, 2011)

Sia said:
			
		

> Well, I try not to subject myself to just one style. I njoy landscape, people, flowers, and objects. I did one photo so far. I gathered a bunch of leaves and spelled out I <3 U. Cheesy but I liked it. I see it done in sand a lot, so I said y not.



well the it seems like you like nature a lot...you might wanna try to do it on that


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## Bitter Jeweler (Dec 6, 2011)

Make sure you include lotsa artspeak so you sound intellectual and deep.


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## unpopular (Dec 6, 2011)

because artists can't actually be intellectual and deep.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Dec 6, 2011)

Some just pretend.


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## unpopular (Dec 6, 2011)

I often say that learning to BS is the most important part of going to art school.

A good artist statement is an excellent marketing tool, and all that BS suddenly becomes insight once you get an opening.


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## Bitter Jeweler (Dec 6, 2011)

Ah, so you admit it's bull****.


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## unpopular (Dec 6, 2011)

LOL. Only until I get a showing!

No. My statements are under developed, and they come across as scattered. But I really am trying to be intentional.

Forming a good artist statement takes time and consideration.


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## Derrel (Dec 6, 2011)

We need c. cloudwalker to come in here and blast the artist statement concept all-to-hell!!! lol


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## Compaq (Dec 7, 2011)

bølge/wave by Anders Myhre Brakestad, on Flickr


Why did I take this picture, you might ask? To me, taking pictures isn't about saving the moment. It is not about doing something that matters to me personally. It is not about making other people feel inspired. Why, then, do I do it? I take pictures because there's a hole inside me that fills up each time I press that shutter. The hole would eat me alive, if I did I not take pictures. That is why I took this picture. I feel it expresses exactly those reasons. Just look at the contrast in it. It's black and white. Black represents the hole - white represents the filling of the hole. Notice the eye? That's my conscience, always watching me, telling me to fill the hole. The white pupils represent hope in a otherwise black place.
I placed the the eye up left, as there's where our living room window is when I sit in the couch. The window is a source of light in an otherwise dark room.


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## Sia (Dec 7, 2011)

This photograph is very nice, detailed, and some what exotic. Did you notice the eye after the picture was shot? I mean it had to of been....I mean it is water for the form is constantly changing. Your words of choice was to the point, like a poem in more of less words.


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## Sia (Dec 7, 2011)

Bitter Jeweler said:
			
		

> Make sure you include lotsa artspeak so you sound intellectual and deep.



Well, I found a site that had 1,000 words to describe a photograph.


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## Sia (Dec 7, 2011)

Bitter Jeweler said:
			
		

> Some just pretend.



I took a 3 hour in studio photography session and the photographer once said to me, " Fake it till you make it". Hahaha


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## Bitter Jeweler (Dec 7, 2011)

Sia said:


> Bitter Jeweler said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I rest my case.


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## Compaq (Dec 7, 2011)

What I wrote was made up. I searched for a "puke" smiley, but we don't have any.......


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## unpopular (Dec 8, 2011)

I was hoping that wasn't a real artist statement. Nothing is worse than shallow symbolism.


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## Compaq (Dec 10, 2011)

That is one of the things I don't like with Anderson's "Understanding Exposure". The pictures have such cliché artistic comments.

"And I wondered, how would this summerly flower look like for an ant? And so I crawled and took 5 rolls of film."


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## spacefuzz (Dec 10, 2011)

I have to submit artist statements with my show / gallery applications.  Honestly I like taking pictures because I enjoy hiking, the process, and the beauty.  But one sentence an artist statement does not make.  So I fluffed it out with BS till it was a page long. I think (hope) most artist statements are like that, otherwise there ego's would have their own gravitational fields.


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## Sia (Dec 12, 2011)

spacefuzz said:
			
		

> I have to submit artist statements with my show / gallery applications.  Honestly I like taking pictures because I enjoy hiking, the process, and the beauty.  But one sentence an artist statement does not make.  So I fluffed it out with BS till it was a page long. I think (hope) most artist statements are like that, otherwise there ego's would have their own gravitational fields.



I know, I have to write 500 words...it's like I can write but when I am told what write and a deadline I forget everything. What used to come natural....writing...leaves me blocked grrr. I am up to 287...and I have writers block.


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## Sia (Dec 12, 2011)

Derrel said:
			
		

> We need c. cloudwalker to come in here and blast the artist statement concept all-to-hell!!! lol



I am only doing it for a school project, a final project accompanied by 9 photographs.


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## Compaq (Dec 12, 2011)

500 words? That's not very much. Just let go of any blocks in your mind, and write some believable stuff. That's what I'd do... Then again, I'm no art student, and just do this for fun.


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## djd (Dec 28, 2011)

I've been an artist/goldsmith for 40+ years and have never written an artist statement. I can't remember ever being able to get through reading one either if it's more than two sentences long. I just start reading and my brain goes yeah, yeah, blah, blah, whatever inspires you, who cares, lets see your work. Very cinical I know, but I'm getting old and grumpy.


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 28, 2011)

Derrel said:


> We need c. cloudwalker to come in here and blast the artist statement concept all-to-hell!!! lol



Thanks D.

I have to admit I have no idea what we are talking about here. The way I understood an artist statement up til now  was a statement made by the artist. Not by someone else.

I was asked a few times to provide one to go with a show and it was always the most horrible torture. Frankly, I have nothing to say about my work to people who only want a free glass of white wine.


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## unpopular (Dec 28, 2011)

often an artist statement is used almost like a piece of self expression in itself: a statement on the artist, not the art.

My most recent project's artist statement is simple:



> This project seeks to find complex forms and patterns within nature, and investigates formal and tonal contrast in naturally occurring species, while continuing experimental approaches in compositions.


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## unpopular (Dec 28, 2011)

lol. I'm now realizing what a run-on that is!


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 28, 2011)

unpopular said:


> often an artist statement is used almost like a piece of self expression in itself: a statement on the artist, not the art.



My understanding was that it was a statement *BY* the artist. Not on.


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## unpopular (Dec 28, 2011)

exactly. who gives a flying fuzz about what "inspires" you?


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## mishele (Dec 28, 2011)

It's kinda both...lol I know some of the Galleries in the area need a statement w/ your portfolio.


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 28, 2011)

unpopular said:


> exactly. who gives a flying fuzz about what "inspires" you?



Is this in response to my post?

My buyers do give a flying fuzz about what inspires me. But they want to hear it from ME, not from some idiot who doesn't know a fooking thing about me.

Now, whether what I say in my statements is worth anything is another story.


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## unpopular (Dec 28, 2011)

hmm. i'm confused.

i think an artist statement should be written by the artist, and be about the art, not about him or herself. anything about the artist should arise from the work, not from the artist's statement itself.


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 28, 2011)

Anything about the artist is about the work.

And vice-versa.


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## mishele (Dec 28, 2011)

An artist statement is _what, how, and why_ you 		         do what you do, from your perspective. So it is as much about the artist, as it is about the art.


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## mishele (Dec 28, 2011)

c.cloudwalker said:


> Anything about the artist is about the work.
> 
> And vice-versa.



Beat me to it!! lol


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## unpopular (Dec 28, 2011)

Perhaps so ... but I think it should be a bit more direct and concise. that's all.


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 28, 2011)

mishele said:


> c.cloudwalker said:
> 
> 
> > Anything about the artist is about the work.
> ...




Yeah, well, great minds and all that crap!


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## c.cloudwalker (Dec 28, 2011)

unpopular said:


> Perhaps so ... but I think it should be a bit more direct and concise. that's all.



How can it be more direct than if it comes from the artist?

As for concise, well, it all depends on how messed up you are. Which is more concise out the next 3 choices:

1/ I shoot because of reason #1

2/ I shoot because of reason #2

3/ I just shoot.


#3 would be the most concise. And also the most boring. Which is not good when you are trying to sell your work.


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