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​The Language of an Artist's Statement

The serious side and the funny side of language for an artist's statement
including "International Art Speak", "Art Bollocks" and "Art Twaddle"

Plus four videos which are worth watching and will keep you focused!

At the end of this page, there is a short review of the wider phenomenon of International Art English and Art Speak
in the wider art world which has had such a huge influence on the generation of nonsensical artist statements.

"#13 - try not to pat yourself on the back too much"
— from How to create a photography artist statement, bio, resume and CV by Alexandra Copley

"Words like ontology, epistemology and metaphysics have a meaning and a long and complicated history within philosophy. Likewise, prefixes such as meta-, post- and hyper- all mean something or other. But are they really necessary in your artist statement?"

— Daniel Blight - Guardian Culture Professionals Network - Writing an artist statement?

The Language of an Artist's Statement (Serious)
​

It's VERY IMPORTANT that you make sure you are using the right terminology

You see an awful lot of artspeak in artist statements - and very often it's very apparent a word is being used because it sounds good rather than because the writer understands what it means

So look the word up and make sure you understand exactly what it means and use it in the right context.
  • ArtLex Art Dictionary (the old version)
    ArtLex provides great reference material relating to art, art history, art criticism, aesthetics, and art education. It includes definitions of thousands of terms, illustrations, quotations, and links to other resources. (NOTE: Link is to an Internet Archived version as the current reinvention of this site by the new owners is appalling)
  • Writing an artist statement? First ask yourself these four questions | Culture professionals network
    Academia is only one part of the art world, says Daniel Blight. To reach wider audiences, let's find an alternative to artspeak

Online Thesaurus for an Artist Statement
​

Stuck for a word - but don't want to be guilty of "Artspeak"? Try an online thesaurus to get back on track. Remember - keep it simple!
  • Art & Architecture Thesaurus (Getty Research Institute)
    The Art & Architecture Thesaurus© (AAT) is a structured vocabulary for describing and indexing the visual arts and architecture.
  • Thesaurus.com | Find Synonyms and Antonyms of Words at Thesaurus.com
    Thesaurus.com - the largest and most trusted free online thesaurus brought to you by Dictionary.com. Quickly find synonyms and antonyms.
  • Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online
    Free online dictionary, thesaurus, spanish-english and medical dictionaries, audio pronunciations, Word of the Day, word games, and many more high-quality Merriam-Webster language resources.
  • Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus - An online thesaurus and dictionary of over 145,000 words that you explor
    This one is great for very occasional searches. Otherwise you need to subscribe to get the most out of it. It has great thinkmap diagrams of how words relate to others
It's very useful to review what George Orwell said in his very famous 1946 essay about Politics and the English Language which at the time was probably one of the most important statements ever on style.
One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails.

I think the following rules will cover most cases:
​
  1. -  Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
  2. - Never use a long word where a short one will do.
  3. - If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
  4. - Never use the passive where you can use the active.
  5. - Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
  6. - Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

The Language of an Artist's Statement (Humour)
​ 

....for when writing the Artist Statement all gets a bit too much

A more humorous perspective on the task of writing an Artist Statement - to be digested by those who have become overly verbose and/or can't think what to write and/or are otherwise in need of a humour transplant. Below you will out why the Artist Statement Generator is not the best idea since sliced bread.

VIDEO: Trying to write an artist statement...Uploaded by Jorg M. Colberg, 
​
author of Conscientious a website dedicated to contemporary fine-art photography

VIDEO: Artsy Pretence overweans Musical commentary on artistic statements.

​Created for the 48 Hour Film Project, Philadelphia 2009.

VIDEO: How to translate an Artist's Statement

​An Artist's Statement from Charlotte Young © 2011
  • Artist's statement translated | Boing Boing Charlotte Young has produced an "artist's statement" video with handy subtitles intended to de-bullshytte-ify this often obscure literary form.
VIDEO: Artist's Statements of the Old Masters

​Artist's Statements of the Old Masters: Narrated by John Seed (Writing about Art and Artists).

Published in May 2014 prior to his article in the Huffington Post article listed under Art Speak, Art Bollocks & Art Twaddle below)

This is the video published in May 2014 which predates his articles in the Huffington Post and Hyperallergic and his book of the same name.

Artist's Statements of the Old Masters
by John Seed

This book is a parody on the type of language often used to describe contemporary art. It's a complete sendup of the ridiculous and pretentious language of postmodern theory. Examples of its contents are contained in articles in the Huffington Post and Hyperallergic also written by John Seed (and listed under Art Speak, Art Bollocks & Art Twaddle below)

The author is a a professor of art and art history at Mt. San Jacinto College in Southern California

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

BUY THIS BOOK
USA: Artist's Statements of the Old Masters
UK: Artist's Statements of the Old Masters
To be successful as an artist in this day and age it is crucial that you justify your work as being contemporary. To be "contemporary" your work needs to be explained and justified in the language of postmodern theory.... Five hundred years ago, this wasn't a concern.
John Seed

ADVERTISEMENT

The Artist Statement Generator
​

Artists have been known to fantasise about being able to feed in words and information about themselves at one end and out comes a fully fledged artist statement at the other! Find out all about the Artist Statement Generator!
​
  • The Artybollocks generator - Do you hate having to write your own artist statement? Generate your own artist statement for free, and if you don't like it, generate another one. Arty bollocks guaranteed.
  • Gurney Journey: Artist's Statement Generator
    Next time your gallery dealer asks you for an Artist's Statement, don't despair. Instead of sweating over writing one yourself, just use this all-purpose Artist's Statement Generator. An award-winning artist's amusing take on how to create an artist
  • ​500 Letters - First Letter
  • Dear Curator, I apologize for my somewhat late reply. I was working against the clock to finish my work for our upcoming exhibition.......... Fill in the blanks, and press the button for the last Artist Statement you'll ever need.
  • The Best Artist Statement Generator I’ve Seen Yet - There have been artist statement generators before, and there will be more to come. In the meantime, however, I’ve found my favorite artist statement generator of all: 500 Letters.
  • THE PATENTED 10gallon.com ARTIST STATEMENT GENERATOR 2000 - Fill in the blanks, and press the button for the last Artist Statement you'll ever need.

Art Speak, Art Bollocks & Art Twaddle 
otherwise known as "International Art English"

The tortured writing found in some artist statements stems from the equally tortured language found around the art world. To understand more about why it's better to make language more accessible in an artist statement it's useful to understand something of the context of art speak

The phrase International Art English stems from an article about an exercise by Alix Rule and David Levine which aimed to prove scientifically that the official language of art was pompous, tortured and linguistically meaningless.

This is their original article in Triple Canopy - international art english
In what follows, we examine some of the curious lexical, grammatical, and stylistic features of what we call International Art English. We consider IAE’s origins, and speculate about the future of this language through which contemporary art is created, promoted, sold, and understood. ​
More about International Art English a.k.a. Art Speak, Art Bollock and Art Twaddle

It's not just confined to the artist statement! 
  • Galleries: let's ditch the artspeak and artybollocks | The Guardian - If public galleries really want to be more accessible, they should listen to George Orwell and never use a long word where a short one will do
  • A user's guide to artspeak | The Guardian -  Why do so many galleries use such pompous, overblown prose to describe their exhibits? Well, there's now a name for it: International Art English. And you have to speak it to get on. Andy Beckett enters the world of waffle 
  • The Way We Talk about Art Shouldn’t Be Impossible to Understand | Artsy - Buying art has always been a sign of social status; so, it follows, is talking about art. Like a secret handshake or an old school tie, IAE unites a tiny, well-heeled minority and excludes the insufficiently dialectical masses.
Plus a lovely treat - an article in The Guardian about Grayson Perry poking fun in a comic art way at Art Twaddle - ​Tosh! Twaddle! Guff! Grayson Perry's comic take on the art world – in pictures

International Art Speak by Old Masters - and other hoaxes

  • Artist's Statements of the Old Masters | John Seed | Huffington Post
    An Old Master working today would definitely need some strong postmodern language to support his/her "artistic practice." Here are some samples of the kinds of "Artist's Statements" that I think would be required of European Old Masters
  • The Artist Statements of the Old Masters | John Seed | Hyperallergic - another perspective by John seed on what contemporary artspeak might make of famous paintings by famous artists of the past.
  • TALK REVIEW: A Beginner's Guide to Art Bollocks -  Perhaps you're drowning in the sea of abused semantics and paraplegic parallels we fondly call 'art bollocks'.
  • The Geomantic Generator of Artistic Statements in Haiku ~ Ross - One of the basic tenets of post-structuralism is that author's intended meaning is secondary to the perception of the viewer.
  • The Great Artist Statement Hoax - What does it say about us as an artist - Here's a humorous look at some artist statement examples and the fancy terms we often use to impress our teachers, clients, and our colleagues on Facebook
  • How to Graduate from Art School (Animation) | loiter.co
    A short animated film fully of complete artspeak twaddle!
  • Top Bad Artist Statements | art amiba - a review of some excruciatingly awful artist statements
By way of contrast.....DO READ 
  • The Anti-artist-statement Statement by Iris Jaffe | Hyperallergic
  • Should Artists Have to Talk About Their Work? | Glasstire - which 
An artist’s ability to give a Big Talk has been part of the job of the professional artist for years.....
​Good artists can inadvertently unsell themselves by attempting the confident and polished ‘performance’ when they would have been better off grunting for an hour. 
Should Artists Have to Talk About Their Work? 

BACK to: How to Write an Artist Statement
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  • What is an artist statement?
  • Why you need an artist's statement
  • How to write an artist statement (TIPS)
  • What an Artist's Statement should contain - What to include and leave out
  • ​Examples of Artist Statements - including what famous artists do
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      • The Language of an Artist's Statement
      • What an artist statement should contain
      • Examples of Artists Statements
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