Artist Profile – is it necessary?

A recent post on the new-ish Threads app by user @lauriesmithwick made an interesting point. It said the following;

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, why do I, a painter, have to write an art statement?”

Which is a fair comment. All artists are familiar with writing a personal statement. We visit galleries, and artists have their statements. They usually tell us about the artist, their background, and what they are interested in. A good statement will tell us what motivates the artist, and what they’re trying to convey in their work.

Could it sometimes be said that they serve only to alienate the viewer, particularly people with no artistic background? The following is an example, selected randomly, with no intended malice towards an excellent artist. This is taken from the guidebook for the ‘British Art Show 8’, an exhibition that visited the ‘Leeds Art Gallery’ from 2015-2016. This statement (reproduced in full) is attributed to ‘Alan Kane’, and reads;

‘Alan Kane has contributed a number of functional elements to ‘service’ British Art Show 8, including a range of gallery seating and a doormat of the kind commonly found in homes. Kane’s doormats attempt to collapse the distance between domestic and institutional settings, their messages of welcome perhaps encouraging the new audiences that these institutions seek. His benches, made from gravestones and powder-coated steel, draw on and advance the tradition of the memento more by emphatically inviting the viewer to become a participant in the work’. 1

If you’re reading this article it’s quite likely you have an interest in art, and as such the above statement may not seem unusual. Perhaps try re-reading it, but as you do, imagine you have no artistic background, have never studied the subject, or perhaps wandered into the gallery because it was cold and raining and whilst in there you decided to have a look around. The statement is a chance for the artist and gallery to explain the meaning behind the work on display. It needs to convey, in plain English, why the bench that the viewer is sitting on appears to be made from a graveyard headstone.

Alan Kane, ‘Vanity Suite’, 2015
Alan Kane, ‘Vanity Suite’, 2015

What the statement would seem to be saying is that the artist is taking objects from an institution (namely gravestones) and placing them in an unusual setting – the gallery. He’s also repurposed the gravestones and turned them into functional items – chairs and benches. He’s doing this to make the viewer think in a different way. By sitting on the bench, you become a part of the work, and given that the work involves death, it’s a sobering reminder that this fate will fall on all of us. It also appears that the artist specifically targets a new audience, particularly people who would not usually visit a gallery. On their website review of the above work ‘Vanity Suite’, ‘This is Tomorrow’ magazine said that ‘he wants the hairdressing element to bring customers to the space who would not normally visit an art gallery’ 2

What is in question, is whether the artwork needs a description or an artist profile. Does the viewer need to know the artist’s intentions in creating their portfolio? In a similar way, does work need a title? Henry Moore famously said,

‘All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on the spectator. Giving a sculpture or a drawing too explicit a title takes away part of that mystery so that the spectator moves on to the next object, making no effort to ponder the meaning of what he has just seen.’3

As such, Henry gives his artworks suitable vague titles, examples being ‘Composition’, ‘Recumbent figure’, ‘Animal Head’. They describe the object, without giving any clue as to why these subjects have been portrayed in the way they have. Artist Martin Creed almost takes this to another level, giving all his work catalogue numbers. ‘Work No. 944’ gives no indication to a reader of the nature of the piece, 21 individually framed sheets of A4 paper displayed on the wall in one single row. In this case, Tate Gallery informs us that ‘By identifying his works primarily through a numbering system, Creed accords them equal status, regardless of size or material. ‘4 Such a numbering system means the viewer has no choice but to interpret the work in their own way because the title of the image gives no clues as to what the artist is trying to say.

In the same way that an artwork doesn’t necessarily need a title, it’s quite possible to propose that an artist doesn’t need one either. Creating a profile gives a description of the motives of the artist, and guides the viewer towards an interpretation of the art. Categorising artists, of all forms, makes marketing their work easier. Musicians are very easily bracketed into a style of music, and marketing pop music to death metal fans would not be useful. Maybe that’s the real reason for an artist profile and biography? It’s not meant for the casual viewer, but for the professional, so they can understand where the artist fits and if they’re the sort of artist that would appeal to their own customer base. Searching Google for ‘Why do Artists need a bio’ gives a list of results from organisations who sell art, or help artists find work.

In which case, it would appear that an artist does need a profile description, as the original statement alludes to. A well crafted artist statement can guide a visitor to the gallery and help understand the work. Imagine that an artist is particularly interested in landscape oil paintings of North Yorkshire. This knowledge can help any prospective viewer, buyer, or gallery understand what the artist is interested in, and what work they can expect to see by the artist. If a viewer has an interest in abstract paintings of urban landscapes, it’s clearly not for them and they would know to stay away and focus their attentions elsewhere – although, arguably any self-respecting art lover should try and enjoy a variety of styles to broaden their mind and learn to appreciate all genres of their chosen artistic style. A good description of the work can provide focus and help bracket the work. The writer of the original statement, @lauriesmithwick, says herself, ‘…if you want to apply to anything, you have to provide those words’. This is a fair comment. In the same way any prospective employee needs to write a CV and personal statement to show their skills and experience, the profile needs to showcase the artist’s practice. What motivates them, what medium they prefer, what subject matter a potential client can expect to see.

In the end, as ever it is down to the individual artist to decide whether they need a profile or not, and to what purpose it should serve. There are many guides to doing this online, but if the ultimate purpose of a profile and biography is to describe to a prospective purchaser what they can expect, it would seem reasonable to assume that the profile would be best written in a manner similar to any resume/CV. The website of the Visual Artist’s association (the link is in the references section below – it’s well worth a look) suggests some basics, such as ‘Avoid jargon’, ‘Think like you are a reader’, and ‘Use short sentences’ 5 All of which would seem to refer back to the original concerns discussed about the accessibility of the profile. Keep it simple! Although if an artist feels that ‘I enjoy representing the visual Diaspora between urban and rural elevations in context of the 21st century in variety of media’ sounds better than ‘I paint and draw postboxes in the countryside’ (both of those are made up, obviously!), well that’s entirely up to them. Use your profile page wisely, and as with the rest of your practice consider every aspect of it, from what to write, to whether you need to write one at all.

References:

  1. Alan Kane, In: Southbank Centre, ed, British Art Show 8, Manchester, 2015, 70.
  2. Louisa Lee, ‘Alan Kane’s Vanity Suite/Sorry’, 2015.
  3. Elizabeth Day, ‘The Moore legacy’, The Guardian, Manchester, 2008.
  4. Helen Delaney, ‘‘Martin Creed, Work No. 944, 2008’’, 2010, Tate Gallery website extract.
  5. Shirley-Ann O’Neill, ‘How To Write An Artist Profile And Description’. https://visual-artists.org/resources/how-to-write-an-artist-profile-and-description/