The best place to find examples of artist's statements fast is the Internet.

Take a look at:
  • gallery websites - and statements made by the artist describing their work for an exhibition
  • 'about the artist' on artists blogs
  • artists' websites - where it might be found under a number of headings such as 'About the Artist', Bio, Work etc
If you've got time, collect exhibition catalogues and find examples of statements which inspire you.

When you've found what you think are the best artist statements, why not share them and say why you like them!
The most important point to remember is that you should NEVER copy or plagiarise another artist's statement.
  • GOOD IDEA:  Read examples to get you started and give your ideas for organisation and presentation - but after that your MUST use your own words.
  • BAD IDEA: Copy lots of words from other people's artist statements and then just tweak for your name and titles/descriptions of your work!
Finally - the examples below do NOT provide you with any 'artist statement' templates' for those who need 'spoonfeeding'.

​Rather this page highlights ways in which famous and professional artists explain their art.
"An artist cannot talk about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture"
— Jean Cocteau
Artist's Statements of the Old Masters 
by John Seed

A send-up of the sort of pretentious artspeak seen in many an artist statement by John Seed the Huffington Post Arts blogger and a professor of art and art history

He uses 24 great European works of art t0 satirise the language of Postmodern art writing.
Note this is a brief self-published book.

Paperback: 40 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 24, 2015)

Rated an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Artist Statements by Famous Contemporary Artists
​

When you get famous....
​
EITHER you don't seem to need an artist statement any more - you favour biographies and timelines in the hope that those writing about you will get facts right!
OR somebody else will write one for you - usually your gallery - who may well wish to maintain 'the mystique'
OR you will have websites for specific projects and may use these to explain something of the thought processes
BUT you do need to have worked hard to provide content for your biography and your chronological time line!
AND you might want to think about whether you or somebody else should write about your legacy

You may or may not think these are the best artist statements - however they are the artist statements of some of the most famous of contemporary artists today.​
An artist's words are always to be taken cautiously. The finished work is often a stranger to, and sometimes very much at odds with what the artist felt, or wished to express when he began. 
Louise Bourgeois 1955. 
SOURCE: Reading Abstract Expressionism: Context and Critique, Ellen G. Landau, ed., New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005, 180f. Originally published in Design Quarterly, no. 30 (1954), 18. 

USA
​

Picture
Marina Abramović at the screening of Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present during the Vienna International Film Festival 2012
  • Marina Abramovic - Includes a biography on her website. This focuses on achievements, events and exhibitions. The statement about what her work is about reads as if written by a gallery. She has also developed a Legacy website for her own art institute. 
  • Louise Bourgeois - discusses the influences on how artists talk about their work - but still actually says what she feels about her work
  • Jasper Johns - no website but several sites (including prestigious Museums) which purport to tell the story of his art. He's an interesting example of an artist who has made statements on film about how his art develops (see below for one example)
​
My primary concern is visual form. The visual meaning may be discovered afterwards – by those who look for it.
Jasper Johns

  • Cindy Sherman's gallery (Gagosian) lists the many international places she has had exhibitions and provides a bibliography as a pdf download. No bio and no artist statement.
  • Judy Chicago's website provides an 'about' section which includes a biography, bibliography and an exhibition history. 

Europe
​

Asia
​

Picture
Yayoi Kusama signing an exhibit. Photo: Vagner Carvalheiro
  • Yayoi Kusama - no artist statement. Website includes a biography. This is a long timeline based narrative which lists events in her life and exhibitions. 
  • Takashi Murakami - no website. Gagosian lists a biography, list of exhibitions and a bibliography
  • Ai Wei Wei - no artist statement (his work is his statement?). Website has one line biography

UK
​

Picture
The page on the Hockney Pictures website which sets out what's available relating to "about the artist"
  • David Hockney - No artist statement. Maybe that's because he writes about his art in books and other people write about his art in the press? His website does however have a well organised approach to 'about the artist' including a chronology, listings re education and awards and exhibitions etc plus and a really fabulous illustrated biographical timeline. He's the only artist I know show does this - and I love it!
  • Peter Doig - Contemporary Scottish figurative painter. Peter Doig's artist statement seems to have been written by his gallery as it doesn't sound anything like the way he talks about his art. On the other hand he doesn't have a website so his galleries get to control how he appears online.
  • Anish Kapoor - lists his exhibitions on a website one page timeline which provides the front end to works, thoughts and 'about'. No bio and no artist statement.
Picture
Anish Kapoor at the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin
  • ​Richard Long - Website has a very simple biography which lists key dates and exhibitions. Plus a very simple statement on the home page (documented in totality below) which is about the what he does and why and how.
​
In the nature of things:
Art about mobility, lightness and freedom.
Simple creative acts of walking and marking
about place, locality, time, distance and measurement.
Works using raw materials and my human scale
in the reality of landscapes.
Richard Long
​​
  • Damien Hirst's website is a set of announcements and information about how to buy - no biography and no artist statement. Obviously too famous to need explanation!
  • Tracy Emin's website contains a biography - but the first section is in effect an artist statement
Tracey Emin’s art is one of disclosure, using her life events as inspiration for works ranging from painting, drawing, video and installation, to photography, needlework and sculpture. Emin reveals her hopes, humiliations, failures and successes in candid and, at times, excoriating work that is frequently both tragic and humorous.
Tracy Emin's biography
ADVERTISEMENT

Examples of artist statements by current professional artists
​

I'm not saying these statements are good or bad. I'm just showing you some examples of what people say.  
​I've also divided the examples into artists from different places:
  • American artists
  • senior British artists
  • younger artists winning prizes in competitions

Popular American Artists
​

British Artists - older with a track record
​
  • Duane Keiser - the artist who started the online "painting a day" movement. No artist statement on his website - but he does explain why he does daily paintings.
My subject matter tends to be those fragmentary passages that reside within the mundane - the in-between spaces of our lives that we see but often do not notice. For me, these paintings are about the pleasure of seeing; of being cognizant of the world around me and pushing to find an alchemy between the paint, my subject and the moment. I view each piece as being part of a single, ongoing work.
  • David Leffel has a biographical narrative to explain his background, development and what he thinks about painting. Not short - but sounds personal and an easy read.
  • Kevin McPherson's "about" page reads rather like one of those advertising copies for books 'you must read'. While it may be true it is also over-hyped.
  • Albert Handell is renowned for not saying a lot and his website describes him as "the silent master". His bio on his website is a set of lists of bio details, exhibitions and articles about him. He is explained by others - and he provides access to those explanations.
I want to paint good pictures and get paid well to do it.
Stapleton Kearns
For me painting is about three things. It is about revelation, communication and celebration.
Ken Howard OBE RA
  • Ken Howard's website starts with an explanation what paint means to him. It's short and accessible. His 'about me' has a timeline and lists of his personal chronology, one man exhibitions, commissioned works and collections. (It's also an old and old fashioned website which is difficult to navigate)
  • June Berry is over 90 years old and is still painting and still selling her art on a regular basis. To my mind her art consistently speaks of her interests - and on her website a critic provides a summary of who she is and what she does.
  • David Curtis is another artist who allows another person to summarise on David's website home page what he is about and how he works. It also includes an "about" page which is a set of facts and lists of exhibitions, awards, commissions and collections

Prizewinning artists
​

Here's an example of 'what NOT to write' unless you want your statement to go viral on Facebook for all the wrong reasons. This applies even if you get picked for the Turner Prize. This is the statement on the Tate web page for Bonnie Camplin - selected for the short list for the Turner Prize in 2015
Camplin gathers her expanded practice under a single idea: ‘The Invented Life’. Central to this is what Camplin describes as a ‘myth-science of energy and consciousness research’ in which subjective experience is taken as the primary form of evidence.

Relevant online articles and blog posts

More examples of artist statements
REFERENCE: