The Thing About Artist’s Statements

I’ve approached this site a little differently than my old site. I included artist’s statements with each date range within my portfolio pages. In going through these writings (and there are many more versions and stubs) I got a better sense of how my work has changed over the years. There were some real manic writing moments and some very lofty language, but overall, I remember what I was trying to approach.

That’s the thing, I always hated trying to pair (my own) writing with painting because it seemed to miss the point. Everything I want to communicate is in the painting, and in its own native tongue. Trying to translate has often left so much meaning out and so much extra language in, to try and capture nuanced visual experiences.

Sometime in 2014 or 2015 I changed my approach to statements out of sheer frustration with the process. I stripped most of it out and tried to really whittle it down to essentials. I think it was effective for the time, although a little dry.

Over time I realized I didn’t have to translate the painting really at all. I was right that the painting is in its own tongue, and it must remain that way. Instead now I’m trying to write the bridge from people to the work. If nothing else, I think the writing is much more approachable and probably clearer. It’s function isn’t to translate exactly, it’s to create a context.

There’s such a history now of phrases I’ve used, that I can sort of use them as a bank. More importantly though, are the phrases from the past that you realize no longer apply. Those aren’t your goals anymore, and that’s extremely exciting to me. What your work is not can feel more defining that what it is.

With my practice, each painting is the next attempt in a line of attempts trying to get at something you never quite reach. You don’t roll down the hill though; instead, you build over time. It makes sense that the writing with it would be much the same.