Exercise 4. Writing an artist’s statement.

I have found the recommended text “Artist Statement”, online on http://www.artquest.org.uk as very helpful. It is clearly written. Here I put some notes about what should be mentioned and considered in the artist statement:

• What mediums are used and why;
• What processes are involved in the project/artwork;
• What themes/ideas/concerns are described/expressed in the project/artwork;
• Any external influences;
• Any particular theories, artists and etc, which are relevant or have to be considered as well in the project/artwork;
• Any intention behind the project/artwork;

I have also read the extract “How To Write About Contemporary Art” by Gilda Williams, which was provided by OCA Learn.

Link 43. “How To Write About Contemporary Art”, by Gilda Williams. This recommended reading was very helpful as well, since it was very sincere and straight forward.

I agree with Gilda Williams on all of her points. Especially on artists’ statements should not be long; they should be sincere, clearly formulated – comprehensive to a viewer. Intuitively I have been wording my artist’s statements following these recommendations. Another reason was the Instagram genre, where I post my artwork on my profile. No one wants to read lengthy “indecipherable” texts, especially if they are related to paintings, so I have been keeping them short. Moreover, I think the artist’s statement for the audience can be limited just by one sentence. Maybe for the art professionals’ circle, the statement can be extended to describe the medium and process shortly. Below are some examples of the artist statements I wrote for my drawings.

Below I put some of my favourite artist statements I find very appealing to me.

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”, Pablo Picasso, Pablo Picasso quotes, online on http://www.pablopicasso.org [accessed on June 12th 2022];

“The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do? ”, Pablo Picasso, Pablo Picasso quotes, online on http://www.pablopicasso.org [accessed on June 12th 2022];

“The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, is like a mirror which copies everything placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence.”, Leonardo Da Vinci, Leonardo Da Vinci quotes, online on http://www.drawpaintacademy.com; [accessed on June 12th 2022];

“Art is a line around your thoughts“, Gustav Klimt, Gustav Klimt quotes, online on http://www.gustav-klimt.com [accessed on June 12th 2022];

“Art is about emotion; if art needs to be explained it is no longer art.”, Pierre-August Renoir, Pierre-August Renoir quotes, online on http://www.pierreaugustrenoir.net; [accessed on June 12th 2022];

“I need to feel the excitement of life stirring around me, and I will always need to feel that.”, Pierre-August Renoir, Pierre-August Renoir quotes, online on http://www.pierreaugustrenoir.net; [accessed on June 12th 2022];

“There is something in painting which cannot be explained, and that something is essential.”, Pierre-August Renoir, Pierre-August Renoir quotes, online on http://www.pierreaugustrenoir.net; [accessed on June 12th 2022];

“Amor Vincit Omnia (Love conquers all).“, Michelangelo Caravaggio, Caravaggio quotes, online on http://www.caravaggio.net [accessed on 12th June 2022];

There is an interesting, quite technically detailed, artist statement, made be famous Japanese artist Kawase Hasui: “some say my drawings look like woodblock prints. I sketched, however, scenes that can be expressed as prints. In earlier days, I used to sketch wherever I pleased. In more recent years, I started sketching scenes where it was unnecessary to move even a single blade of grass in designing my prints. I found that the very landscapes started looking like prints to me. I do not paint subjective impressions. My work is based on reality, I cannot falsify, even though I can simplify. I try to make the people in my pictures characteristic of local manners and customs. If I’m drawing a large temple gate, I’ll draw a distant view. Then I get closer and draw the structure of each part in careful detail. I make mental impressions of the light and colour at the time of sketching. Later, back at my inn, I fill in the colour. While colouring the sketch, I am already imagining the effects in a woodblock print”. (“Modern Japanese Printmaker: Hasui Kawase”, Marina Bittencourt, April 03, 2021, online on http://www.kuriosis.com; [accessed on June 12th 2022];

Bibliography:”Modern Japanese Printmaker: Hasui Kawase”, Marina Bittencourt, April 03, 2021, online on http://www.kuriosis.com; [accessed on June 12th 2022]; “Michelangelo Caravaggio”, Caravaggio quotes, online on http://www.caravaggio.net [accessed on 12th June 2022];” Leonardo Da Vinci”, Leonardo Da Vinci quotes, online on http://www.drawpaintacademy.com; [accessed on June 12th 2022]; “Gustav Klimt”, Gustav Klimt quotes, online on http://www.gustav-klimt.com [accessed on June 12th 2022];”Pierre-August Renoir”, Pierre-August Renoir quotes, online on http://www.pierreaugustrenoir.net; [accessed on June 12th 2022]; “Pablo Picasso”, Pablo Picasso quotes, online on http://www.pablopicasso.org [accessed on June 12th 2022]; “Artist Statement”, online on http://www.artquest.org.uk, [accessed on June 7th 2022]; “How To Write About Contemporary Art”, Gilda Williams, Thames & Hudson, online on OCA Learn Resources web page , [accessed on June 7th, 2022]; “8 Artist statements We Love”, August 24, 2015, Art League Editors, online on http://www.theartleague.org; [accessed on June 7th 2022];

Exercise 4.1. The Elevator Pitch

Below I put some my attempts for “elevator speech”. I write very short artist’s statements for some of my drawings.

Moonlight (dry pastels on paper).

Have you ever thought about why abstract painting is notoriously dull for some people and equally fascinating for others? I had been among the first. I was looking for some narrative which would be recognizable. Yet, subconsciously I wanted to find something comfortable and easy for my conventional thinking and understanding. My eyes and brain wanted to operate within their comfort zone; they didn’t want to meet anything alien. With time, my thinking has changed as I have been exposed to different artistic talents and endeavours. Now I understand that abstract painting is a blessing. Now I love this genre, because you can hide so much inside of it, and every time looking at the abstract painting – it appears as really different. It absorbs the reality and you can play with it everyday, every time you looked at it.

Bamboo forest (ink on paper). Any painting is very much influenced by the time factor. We are not usually aware of it, but the time is always present in any visual art object. Here I sequenced different instant moments what let me to create a complex image. In this painting, I have layered black bamboo stems with evening sunlight and wind and the lightness of the air. I wanted to catch different times of my day in one moment. I painted with ink, which is full of intrigue: you draw a single line, and this line is a multiverse. It is so full of bodily dimensional.

Lord Budha ( inks on paper);

I love symbols and I try to connect with them in my studies of abstract paintings. You see a sign of Lord Budha ( Mercury) and the Divine sparkle. Our Intelligence is at its best when we connect with the Divine. I applied a Japanese Enso painting technique when you have to synchronize your breath with a brushstroke. You can see a green symbol of mercury – Lord Budha and a sacred symbol of “Om”. Our Intelligence is blessed when it is illuminated by the Divine.