Writing an artist statement for your profile

Writing an artist statement is a fundamental part of being a professional artist. It helps you to understand your own work better as well as enabling buyers and curators to learn more about your process. Sharing this information with your audience creates more interest in your work, and increases your chances of them buying or showing it.

Your artist statement should be concise and to the point. A general rule of thumb is to write statements that are around 200-300 words in length.

An artist statement should start with a general introduction to your work including media, style, and materials. You should also discuss any techniques used and how this is important to the production of the work. Focusing on the physical properties of the work gives the reader a clear understanding of how it is made.

Think about any themes and subjects you address in your work and explain these using simple, non-technical language. Make it clear how the medium you use relates to those themes.

Consider how your work relates to contemporary art practice but make sure that you focus on talking about your own art rather than comparing yourself to other artists.

You may also want to include a few key exhibitions or projects if they are particularly relevant, but don’t include your entire cv here as readers can quickly become disinterested in lists of exhibitions.

Write in the first person to ensure that your work sounds authentic and personal. Write one idea per sentence and vary sentence length and structure to make the writing more interesting.

Check your spelling and punctuation to make your statement look as professional as possible. A spelling and grammar checker can help with this.

Don’t forget you can update your profile on CuratorSpace as many times as you like, just remember to click the ‘Submit for moderation’ button after each edit.