Art / Work
3 Feb

Art/Work by Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber is a nice short book that collects observations and advice from different people in the art world, geared toward artists at the beginning of their careers. It’s not comprehensive enough to be a true reference, but it’s worth checking out of the library to go through once, because it has the distinction of addressing very nuts and bolts issues that art teachers and the art world don’t usually talk about. Stuff like keeping records, taxes (keep receipts for everything from museum visits to photobooks and photo magazine subscriptions!), invoicing, contracts. They don’t spell everything out, but I thought it was a good reminder of some practical things that I should start doing to make my life easier down the line.
As for the advice, people have different opinions but here’s a sampling of something people do agree on – the ever treacherous artist statement:
“You’re good at what you are good at. Writers are not asked to be visual artists; no one is asking that visual artists become highfalutin writers for their artist statements. The goal of your artist statement is to clarify and state your intentions. Do not add florid language and overthink it. The jargon isn’t necessary or desirable. Most of the time, especially for emerging artists, it can create a stumbling block between your reader and your work.”
- Sarah Lewis, Yale School of Art“No amount of poor padding with theory is going to make work look any more convincing or intriging than it already is. I look at everybody’s images first. Then I go to project statemtns. Then maybe I read the artist statement. I am looking for plain language: ‘I am doing this and I am going to do this thig with it.’ I have stayed away from reading the more poetic, theory-heavy, phiosophizing artist statemnts because they kill it. Leave the interpretation to us, the audience. Someone else will put it into words at some point.”
- Shannon Stratton, ThreeWalls“I am looking for nouns. Nouns and verbs. Anything that starts off too flowery I crumple up and throw away.”
- Leigh Conner, Conner Contemporary Art“I will read artists statements but artists don’t have to be great writers. Actually, many of them are terrible writers, which is fine, since that’s no the primary ‘language’ of theirs that I’m listening to. If they have taken the time to write a text, I will read it and it can often be quite useful, though artists shouldn’t be overly converned with crafting a perfect, publishable piece.”
- Shamim Momin, Whitney Museum




















