The (dreaded) Artist Statement ... Help wanted.

**paulr** · 26-Jan-2006, 10:36

A lot of times i've seen horrible statements like these, and assumed the artist would be some pretentious post-modern ass, and been shocked to discover someone who's friendly, down to earth, and even a good artist. i suspect part of the problem is specifically that their strength is images and not in words--they know they have to write a statement, feel the same dread as the rest of us, and don't know what to do. So they just try to copy the style of other statements they've seen. They assume it's the jargon they're expected to use, because so many other people are doing it.

It's a problem just like corporate jargon. All the middle managers talk about shifting paradigms too. It's not always because they're jackasses; often they just don't know any better. They see the way the emails in their inboxes are written, and figure that's the language to use. So what if they don't understand it.

**tim atherton** · 26-Jan-2006, 11:02

"It's a problem just like corporate jargon. All the middle managers talk about shifting paradigms too. It's not always because they're jackasses; often they just don't know any better. They see the way the emails in their inboxes are written, and figure that's the language to use. So what if they don't understand it."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592401406/sr=1-1/qid=1138298369/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8578615-9198465?%5Fencoding=UTF8

http://tinyurl.com/8b6ek

an excellent read

and

http://www.weaselwords.com.au/index3.htm

**Bruno Di Nunzio** · 26-Jan-2006, 12:17

Daniel, this is my statment for my last work. I have spent lot of time trying to put some words down than I wrote it one night when I finally have decided to focus on myself, my reasons and above all my feelings.

"This collection of photographs forms the basis of personal research and interpretation of the works of one of the most renown living sculptors: Arnaldo Pomodoro. The work required about three years of study. During that time I reflected, intuited, re-thought and re-did. Not once did I fail to find something stimulating and revealing. My work has allowed me to discover some new aspects - at times surprising - of the master's work.

Dorotea Lange once said: “… the camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera”. I have never before had such astounding confirmation of that idea: the more I photographed, the more I realized how many things had escaped my notice.

Among these photographs, one particularly struck me. I was attentively observing the proofs of one sculpture when I noticed a strong, almost graphic two-dimensional connotation of Arnaldo Pomodoro's work. Another interesting observation was that the strength communicated by the sculptures didn't change in the transition from three-dimensional to bi-dimensional sight. In fact, it surpassed the three-dimensional, isolating particular aspects and succeeded in exalting the intensity of the structures.

I was astounded by these unexpected results as well as by the fact that my work was actually helping these sculptures to come to life in a unique way: sculpture became picture and picture sculpture. The day I saw the metamorphosis of Arnaldo Pomodoro's sculptures (and my own photographs as well), the images in my work broke free of the confines of documentary and became art and truth in their own right.

While the essence and the soul of these works might be concealed within the three-dimensional structure, they are revealed and exalted in the photographs. I found this idea of metamorphosis very interesting and stimulating. I love the idea of using photography as a key for reading a work of art.

This is how the project came to be."