I hate artist statements. Really, I do. As an artist, they are almost always awkward and painful to write, and as a viewer they are similarly painful and uninformative to read. I also don’t know who decided that artists should be responsible for writing their own “artist statement.” Maybe it was an understaffed gallery in the 1980s, or a control freak think-inside-my-box-or-get-out MFA program director, but regardless of how this standardized practice came to be, the artist’s statement as professional prerequisite (at least for artists who have yet to be validated by the established art world) has long overstayed its welcome. And I don’t think a new one should be required in its place.
Iris Jaffe
Iris Jaffe is an artist, educator, and creative strategist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a BA from Brown University and has worked for the contemporary artist Tom Sachs and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts.
