This post embodies an idiosyncratic view of X, yet the familiar imagery allows for a connection between Y, and Z.

June 22, 2011 4:01 PM

An Artist's Statement by Charlotte Young.
posted by Memo (21 comments total)

Earlier.
posted by twsf at 4:06 PM on June 22, 2011

From now on, I'm just going to read every Artist's Statement at every gallery or in every book as I would read someone's resume.
posted by chimaera at 4:37 PM on June 22, 2011

I dig this.
posted by everichon at 4:43 PM on June 22, 2011

the problem with irony is that it becomes a belief
posted by pyramid termite at 4:46 PM on June 22, 2011

Hee hee. I've been trying to write a non-bullshit little statement for my new web site and this reminds me of all the things not to do.

The problem is that if you spend your time as a quote-artist-unquote, you put loads and loads and LOADS of effort into thinking about art. Too much time. You've got to, because first you lie in bed listening to 10 new genres of music a day, and then you panic and wonder: Am I really making the world a better place by knowing more music than other people know? (And also: Will this make me money ever?)

So then you and your friends gather and talk about whether you're completely fucking yourselves, whether you're losing touch with the world you got into art to connect with. You evolve a new terminology to talk meaningfully and efficiently about this, so that suddenly you're using language to mean a whole bunch of things it probably shouldn't. Then you finally get hit by inspiration, possibly while tripping, and it becomes obvious: Here is the way you can make a piece of art that upholds your unique worldview!

The only problem is that aligning yourself to a worldview doesn't immediately give you the technique it takes to get non-you people to ask the same questions you're asking. Maybe YOU think you're saying an important statement about political manipulation of the media (and it's safe to say that you're talking about that more than you're talking about anything else), but other people are seeing a dildo on top of a television set and they don't trust you enough to devote hours and hours to studying its angle relative to the skewed LCD screen.

The challenge in art isn't having deep thoughts, it's having those deep thoughts and being technically profound enough to ask those questions to other people. But when you're starting off, it seems like a real breakthrough to have a statement of purpose and to KNOW which direction you're going. And you've spent so much time talking about art that you've forgotten to ask yourself what other people spend their time talking about, and you've lost the ability to say things they care about or even understand.

I love art students, which is why I am one, but we're very silly.
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:09 PM on June 22, 2011 [5 favorites]

(By the way! Anybody seeking to publish their own high-concept manifestos, write me! As the founder of the Manifestoist art movement, which seeks to change the world by releasing statements of purpose and nothing else, I am always welcoming new amusing blowhards to intimidate inspire the world alongside.)
posted by Rory Marinich at 5:10 PM on June 22, 2011

This girl looks so sad, as if she is about to cry. I know artists who have worked at length in their medium of choice, who have talent, and skill. Art is a difficult way to make a living. I attended a lecture by Art Wolfe, today, an accomplished artist, and photographer. The last five years has seemingly cut his income by 4/5ths. So when people buy a camera, or computer, and expect to show in the week that follows, it is fitting they should cry.

This women didn't even put on her game face, unless of course, her "Art" is playing victim.
posted by Oyéah at 5:23 PM on June 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

At least she has a sense of humour, which is worth more than 99% of the 'art' produced in recent years.
posted by joannemullen at 5:30 PM on June 22, 2011

I thought it was funny.

I hate the formal way in which artist's statements are written, just as I hate the formal way in which resumes are written. At least with resumes you can grit your teeth and write it off as just how the game is played, but artist's statements tend to be twice as absurd and one-tenth and sensible.

I wonder what an example of a good artist's statement would be.
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:39 PM on June 22, 2011

At least she has a sense of humour, which is worth more than 99% of the 'art' produced in recent years.

Thanks for the sterling incite(sic) you always bring to discussions about art!
posted by stagewhisper at 5:42 PM on June 22, 2011

Few artists can be trusted to explain their work.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:46 PM on June 22, 2011

Theodor Adorno once wrote that people who resent the power of art attack the hangers on, the copycats, and the hypocrites so they don't have to attack the more powerful and original practitioners.

I sense a lot of that in this video.

I wish I could give her credit for sharp criticism of the way the culture of fame and money distorts the art world.

But that's not where she's coming from. And even if it were, there are much more nuanced versions of the same critique already out there. For instance, I could see a contemporary examination of the subject in Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop.

This woman's version of it is not only simplistic and misdirected, it's sad and bitter.
posted by macross city flaneur at 5:54 PM on June 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

At least with resumes you can grit your teeth and write it off as just how the game is played, but artist's statements tend to be twice as absurd and one-tenth and sensible.

In my experience, with artists, that's also how the game is played.

I've seen some awesome, profound, moving art, and I've never read one good or insightful statement. I can tell that virtually every "Artist's Statement" is done by the artist gritting their teeth and getting on with it, playing the game. They all read like PoMo LitCrit wankery, even the ones for the good (or great) pieces.
posted by chimaera at 5:56 PM on June 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I am having trouble remembering some comedy sketch -- perhaps from Saturday Night Live -- predicated on this same joke: the subtitles lay out for the viewer what the speaker is trying to obfuscate.

She tells this joke very well.
posted by not_on_display at 6:00 PM on June 22, 2011

Let me tell you, writing an artist's statement when the sum total intent of your artwork is to make people's brains shut off for a few seconds while their visual systems overload and then they say WOW just fucking sucks, worse than strangling puppies. And you have to do it. You must. There's no choice. If you want a gallery show, if you want a grant, if you want a write-up in a magazine, you must have an artist's statement that's not just "I want to make people go wow" but is instead eight paragraphs about all kinds of shit, none of which is relevant at all to anything or anyone, it's just the lubricant that makes those things possible. It's like a coxcomb; absolutely and utterly useless except that you've gotta have a really good one if you want to fuck a hen.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:10 PM on June 22, 2011 [7 favorites]

Types of art:

The art of politics.
The art of cooking.
The art of motorcycle maintenance.
The art of trolling for lulz.
The art of war.
The art of kissing.
The art of negotiation.
The art of diplomacy.
The art of finding the right word at the right moment.
The art of stand up.
The art of the put down.
The art of papier mache.
The art of bronze etching.
The art of Velasquez.
The art of kk null.
The art of cinematography.
The art of ceramic glazing.
The art of laser light shows
The art of mashup.
The art of mixtaping.
The art of tai chi.
The art of extracting oneself from an awkward conversation.
The art of interpretative dance.
The art of polishing shoes.
The art of making ends meet with two children and a mortgage.
The art of ice sculpture.
The art of self-promotion.
The art of torture.
posted by jet_manifesto at 3:07 AM on June 23, 2011

Theodor Adorno once wrote that people who resent the power of art attack the hangers on, the copycats, and the hypocrites so they don't have to attack the more powerful and original practitioners.

I sense a lot of that in this video.

People who appreciate and like the power of art also attack the hangers on, the copycats, and the hypocrites so that the more powerful and original practitioners shine the more brightly.

That's what I sensed in this video.
posted by DU at 6:03 AM on June 23, 2011

Who's the powerful and original practitioner of the artist's statement?
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:07 AM on June 23, 2011

Shaft?
posted by Wolof at 6:50 AM on June 23, 2011 [5 favorites]

I wonder what an example of a good artist's statement would be.

"Here's my stuff. See you at the bar."

God, I hate artist's statements. Hate writing them, hate reading them, hate everything about the idea. I had an installation in a show last year, and I came in early on the day of the opening and stole the card with my statement on it. Then I lurked around the edges of the space and listened to people try to figure out what the piece meant. Turns out it meant a whole bunch of really amazing things I hadn't even thought of -- none of which I would have discover if everybody who look at it had been anesthetized by my "artist's statement".
posted by steambadger at 9:05 AM on June 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

Then I lurked around the edges of the space and listened to people try to figure out what the piece meant. Turns out it meant a whole bunch of really amazing things I hadn't even thought of -- none of which I would have discover if everybody who look at it had been anesthetized by my "artist's statement".

Microphone + voice recognition software + e-ink display disguised a paper. That way no-one has to write the statements themselves!
posted by atrazine at 10:26 AM on June 23, 2011 [2 favorites]