Artist Statements

Here is a website that lists zillions of Canadian visual artists. I like to use this site as a research tool. I can use the list to visit a large number of artists websites, blogs and web pages and one of the things that just astounds me (and my students) is the number written in the third person.

Hey artists. It's not like anyone thinks someone other than you has written your statement, so why is it in the third person. Why not say "I" and "me" like a normal person and make us like you a little more easily?

Artist statements are somewhat bogus anyway. To be provocative: they are fake curatorial statements. They are self-developed statements designed to serve readers in the same way as a curator's catalogue essay serves to interpret or explain the purpose of their exhibitions.

To too great an extent, the artist statements I read seem written to satisfy the artists more than the reader. Think about who your artist statements are for!