The Dreaded Artist Statement

I hate the Artist Statement. I don't want to explain my art. It should speak for itself and the viewer should be able to have a personal conversation with my art that doesn't include any influence from me.

With that being said - I still wrote the dreadful thing. The statement after all is a powerful marketing tool. It should wet the whistle of the viewer making them want more.

Here are the guidelines I used to create my statement:

 Your 1st sentence should grab hold and make the reader want to continue. Start off with a bang! Be short and sweet, explain your painting style, subjects and themes. Use unique fascinating verbiage. Talk about what your art does for you not what it's supposed to do for them. Use "I" not "You", keep the tense active, using "is" and "are". What is the purpose of your art? Why you create what you do. Make a list of words that describe your art and use them in your statement.

Sound much easier than it is. It took me weeks to write this:

Judy Grupp Artist Statement

There is a box of 64 crayons in every one of my paintings. Those crayons are my first memory of making art, of going down the rabbit hole and giving life to my imagination. I've continued to maintain my studio in that rabbit hole, creating whimsical, colorful paintings that always tell a story, the yin and yang in every secret garden, and the wonder of whimsy.

 

I am a mixed media artist in the truest sense. My painting style is a blend of realism and abstract, with an illustrative quality. Acrylic paint, colored pencils, and collage ephemera are my favorite materials, but I am open to using anything from vintage door knobs to antique music paper and buttons.

 

My paintings are conceptual, coming from the ideas living in my head transformed into my art. Even though my paintings are planned and methodically created, it is still my imagination in the rabbit hole leading the way. My art is everything I wish I was in real life. I am the crayon box and my art is the magic that lives inside.