Saturday, June 25, 2011
Deciphering an Artist Statement
We artists tend to paper over the lameness of our work with inflated nonsense. Charlotte Young has done us the favor of deciphering the gobbledegook.
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Via Boingboing.
Previously: Artist Statement Generator
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19 comments:
Too funny!
"My work is currently in a state of flux - I haven't made anything in 8 months"
Now I am tempted to hit up the Saatchi Gallery website, click on "Articles" for random artists and do translations.
LOL it's not what you sell, it's how you sell it :D
Very similar statements from the recent fine art students from my old college.
Things like: "life is comprised of subjective experience. Thus, my art simulates that by allowing the user to interpret the work as they wish"
Translation: 'I was too lazy to create a work with meaning, so I'll let everyone else do it for me!'
Great comment on the BS in our society today.
Hey, I think all artists are purveyors of BS to some extent or another (including us illustrators). I am just glad every day that there are people are willing to pay for my unique brand of it.
Sounds like something Bill Watterson would have Calvin say about his "Snow Art"
Great stuff. I though her gobbledegook was pretty tame. I've heard and was expected to produce far worse at art school.
This really made me smile. I dread writing artist statements, because of the gobbledygook. I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.
I LOve it!!! It really brought a smile to my face today. Thanks for posting it.
Oh, I needed this today! <3 I despise writing artist statements; I hate the part where I have to create authentic-sounding gobbledygook that isn't anywhere near as defensive-sounding as the truth, which would be, 'I'm not a gay man, I'm a straight female, and I paint what I like, which is beautiful men: why is this surprising? Also, fabric is fiddly and anatomy is fascinating, therefore shirts are sorely under-represented in my art. Everything else is there because I thought it was cool. Shocking minimum of subtext, by which I mean, 'Seriously. I just thought it looked lovely, so I put it there.' '
Honest artist statements don't sell paintings, however. *Headdesk!*, as it were.
Ramie
www.ramienunally.com
I've just had my student show and had to write an artists statement about my work. I tried not to fill it with jargon, gobbledegook or clever crap. I tried to be honest about my work and the reasons behind it. My tutor rewrote it and it sounded like pretentious rubbish. I was sorely upset, but it was too late to do anything about it.
Do I like it or what !!!!
Love it! Wonderful!!
Thank you James! You've made my day.
I love the fact that the video is doing exactly what she describes as her art in the gobbledigook version of the text : ) She's creating a story and playing with the idea of fiction vs non fiction in a very self-aware way, probably making herself feel very clever at the same time.
I almost see this as a justification for using 'pretentious' language: If you can actually pull it off, then you aren't pretending, are you?
LOL. Bottom line - "I WATCH TELEVISION". I had to get a microfiber cloth to clean the coffee off my monitor. Luckily, I didn't get any on the keyboard.
So after watching this video I got curious about the Charlotte Young person and hunted her website/blog down http://todayimadenothing.wordpress.com/ This other video she made is pretty insightful into the art community too http://vimeo.com/19993726
http://10k.aneventapart.com/Uploads/262/#
automatic artist statement bs generator, so you don't have to ;)
@Alonso - that is too funny.
@ Greg - Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...
Thanks for reposting this.
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