all photos ~ (embiggenable)
DURING THE ARTIST AS ENTREPRENEUR EVENT, ONE OF THE points that was emphasized–in fact, emphatically stressed–was the importance of writing an artist bio and artist statement; a point with which I equally, emphatically and vocally disagreed.
The moderator stressed that it is vitally important in the writing of an artist statement to inform viewers / audience / gallery directors re: what it was/is that drives you to create the work that you are presenting and what is your intent in the making of that work. Throw in a bit about how the work was made and you are good to go. The rational behind that (iMo) absurd idea is that doing so will illuminate the person and the mindset of the work’s maker which will help a viewer reach a better understanding of the work.
My hand raised, verbal response to that idea was simply, “Who I am as a person and what drives me to make my art is no one’s business but mine.”
The rationale behind that statement is, again, quite simple; in the Formalist tradition, I believe that everything a viewer needs to know about a work of art is contained in the art itself. Consequently, I eschew tell-all artist statements, and, concomitantly, never title or caption any of my work. Simply written, my desire is that a viewer comes to my work and makes of it what they will based solely upon what they see and intuit–literally and metaphorically.
Case in point; at the aforementioned event one of my fellow participants, while viewing my Adirondack Survey book expressed, in great detail, what she was seeing and what she was experiencing / feeling as she viewed the work, some of which surprised the hell out of me. That written, she never uttered a word about the why, how or intent of the work’s making. Nor, I should mention, did she never asked me what color underwear I was wearing (metaphorically speaking).
All of that written, in today’s NY Times there is an article, 8 Proposal for a Better Art World, in which 9 artists were queried for thoughts on the matter. One artist / curator / critic, Michelle Grabner–a person after my own heart–opined:
“An art world where we’re not trading on individual biographies or identities. That would put more work on the viewer, who’d have to do some interpretation. A problem with the professionalized art world is that it’s become overly transactional. Removing the author, the artist, the biography from the conversation may take us a long way.”
Be still my heart. I am always delighted to discover that I am not a lone voice howling in the wilderness.