I hate the idea of having to write an artist statement, but it has become necessary. I find it very hard not to sound either pompous or banal (or both). Here’s my current version. Any suggestions for improvement?
David Rourke | Artist Statement
“This is an occupation known as painting, which calls for imagination, and skill of hand, in order to discover things not seen, hiding themselves under the shadow of natural objects, and to fix them with the hand, presenting to plain sight what does not actually exist. And it justly deserves to be enthroned next to theory, and to be crowned with poetry.”
—Cennino d’Andrea Cennini, circa 1400 A.D.
What
My paintings are about simple things carefully observed. When I’m planning a painting, I often just walk around my house, looking for an object—a pair of blue jeans, a paper bag, a dress borrowed from my wife—that feels like it might be the right subject of a painting. I then plan the composition around it.
How
I work directly from life. Realist painting is less about the mechanics of rendering than it is about learning to accurately observe light, form, and color. Each painting is an exercise in letting go of preconceptions.
Why
I’m deeply aware that I’m participating in a tradition of craftsmanship that goes back well over 600 years. There’s no point, however, in re-making what others have done, so the core of the thing is to respect the craft while expressing my own self. The balance between those goals is endlessly engaging.
I really, Really object to the need to write a statement. Most of them contribute little to the experience of that artist’s work… they’re usually about as useful as a canker sore.
What you’ve written is probably as good as any, in that it succinctly sums up what you’re all about, but then I think your paintings speak clearly for themselves. That said, let me propose something radical — why not just stop after the Cennini quote? It’s profound, elegant, intriguing, and leaves a lot to the imagination. If I saw that on a website, it would certainly send me off on a tangent thinking about the relationship between the quote and the paintings. That’s probably exactly what a statement is supposed to do…
Just my $0.02.
Thanks, Jeff.
I’m assuming that statements originated with abstract and (especially) conceptual art, in which some kind of written description is needed in order to help the viewer figure out what the hell that thing on the wall is supposed to be. Most classical realist art, by contrast, is fully able to speak for itself. So we classical realist artists tend to think of writing an artist’s statement as an irritating redundancy, while a conceptual artist might find writing the statement to be the most interesting part of creating the piece.
And yet, depending on what part of the art game you want to play in, statements are simply required. I’ll put some thought into your suggestion about just using the Cennini quote.