A statement explains the questions that drive the work, the recurring decisions, and how materials, processes, and context relate. It must assist in viewing the work, not replace it or impose a singular interpretation.
What it is and what it is not
It presents the practice from the artist's position. It is not a biography, CV, wall label, project proposal, critical review, or a declaration of intent without completed work.
Gather evidence
Select recent works and note verifiable commonalities: questions, operations, materials, scales, sources, locations, and installation decisions. Separate the constant from the occasional.
Formulate a working question
Avoid concepts that could belong to any artist. Define which relationship you are investigating, which material problem emerges, or which situation you are making visible. The question may not be published, but it must structure the text.
Explain operations
"I work on memory" informs less than explaining what you do with archives, voices, images, or spaces. Use concrete verbs: collect, compare, program, erase, translate, repeat, assemble. Do not attribute effects to the audience that you have not studied.
Materials and technology
Name tools when they change the work. If you use AI, code, platforms, or data, explain their function and leave the detail in the technical dossier. Do not make a commercial brand the focus if it is subject to change.
Context and references
Include references only when they clarify decisions. Distinguish between influence, source, object of research, and coincidence. Do not simulate affinity with a call for entries.
First person and tone
The first person is appropriate. Avoid speaking as an external critic. Replace "my work questions" with a description of the proposed situation. Complexity does not require opacity.
Versions
Prepare a brief version, an expanded one, and required adaptations. The general statement presents the practice; the series text explains a collection; the project proposal describes something yet to be realised.
Edit against the works
Check every sentence against specific works. Remove what you cannot point to. Ask an outsider to explain what they understand and what work they expect to find.
Common mistakes
- Turning a biography into a statement.
- Starting with a universal definition of art.
- Accumulating abstractions.
- Describing only themes.
- Copying the language of a call for entries.
- Maintaining a version that no longer corresponds to the practice.
Checklist
- Speaks about existing work.
- Distinguishes between questions, operations, and materials.
- Does not promise effects.
- Can be read without the CV.
- Has a version and date.
- Adapts without contradicting other presentations.
Further reading
Consult How to prepare an artist dossier or portfolio, How to write a comprehensible wall label and the other writing guides in Guides.