The final seminar of the semester was part two of Alexander Kokoli's discussion about artist statements. The seminar was centered around "the difficult partnership between writing and creative practice" and the factors contributing to the success and failure of an artist's statement.
so what is an artist's statement anyway? well according to numerous sources an artist's statement is a document or body of text, concerned with informing the reader about the artists motivations and sensibilities. An artist's statement is also a companion to a body of work - without the work the statement cannot - or should not exist.
whilst not being part of your work per se, it is still makes a very important contribution, there is a symbiosis that exists between the text and the art. the statement is there to inform but it is not there to tell the entire story of the work, one of the biggest problems I have encountered when attempting to write a such a statement is finding the appropriate balance within the amount of information volunteered and what i should neglect to mention. This is a problem because when people read what you put in front of them they will inevitably draw their own conclusions from what you have written, thus we must resist the urge to 'unpack' our works intentions and meaning within a body of text - which is at best an imperfect medium. in doing this we preempt the aforementioned usurpation, and ensure that there is as little room as possible for the misappropriation of you're work, allowing you to maintain the highest degree of ownership over you're work.
another point of consideration is the language used to construct an artist's statement, unlike many other artistic writings it should not contain jargon - this is a statement for everyone, not just the learned few. the use of everyday language is therefore preferable to that of the art world which has its own distinct dialect and grammar. this is in fact one of the problems i have had - separating the statement from the work - as the statement tends to become 'work' in its own right.
As with all endeavors, the approach taken toward creating your artist's statement will dictate its content. With this in mind Kokoli highlighted several ideological perspectives which can be adopted in order to make your statement say what you want it to. For instance, one can write your statement as a manifesto, containing your motivations and influences or you can use it to contextualise your work, by identifying which niche your work fits whether in your own world, the art world or the real world. furthermore, your statement can also serve as a way of informing people of the methodology or techniques employed in your creative process. whilst your statement does not have to include information on all of these 'categories' it is best to include some. preventing yourself from becoming bogged down can be tricky but being as concise as possible is one sure way of writing an effective artist's statement. The biggest challenge is therefore being as concise as everyday language will allow not forgetting that the writing should not outshine or detract from the work on show. the statement should acknowledge the context of the work on show and exploit it all the while maintaining a measured sense of clarity in order for it to be as easily assimilated as possible by the reader and also allowing room for a certain level of introspective extrapolation or interpretation.
something i have touched upon earlier was the protective role of the statement. Art, being in the public eye - becomes in a way public, belonging to everyone - and because of this everyone has their own thing to say about your art. creating an artist's statement is a way of safeguarding what your art is intended to be. To me is about ownership, it is about preventing people from convoluting your work's message whilst at the same time allowing sufficient room to maneuver, which allows you to defend your work if the need be. The artistic world is renowned for taking a square peg and twisting it to fit a round hole, or in other words - artistic commentators will talk about your work and in essence make it theirs, by using it to serve their needs. without an artist's statement your work - and by extension yourself are far more vulnerable to becoming enveloped by some other completely unrelated ideology - detracting from your work. an example of one such situation can be seen in the music industry: during the 'new rave' movement, many bands and groups were associated with the sound of 'new rave' without ever having wanted to be simply because they did not take the time differentiate themselves. as it happens the 'new rave' phenomenon now seems to have been a fabrication of the NME (new music express - a popular music magazine) as many of the groups most associated with new rave have since publicly distanced themselves from being complicit in the movement - this analogy may be somewhat clunky but the fundamental principles are the same.
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