State of the Art Statement: Jen Beckman, 20 X 20

One Valerie Roybal has this work featured at Beckman’s 20 X 200 today. Liked it.

Now: What do you think of the short statement, below it?

Not bad at all, right? Only, here’s the pet peeve of the day: Lists. Of Stuff. Too much Stuff. don’t do it!

Thing is, this is an anomalous example, ’cause clearly Roybal’s work is about that conglomeration of stuff. She’s right to give us a sense of its vastness, its diversity.

I’d stop at listing 5 things, tops, usually in your artist’s statement. (And even that’s too too much.) Here, we’ve got 11. Um, OK. Lettin’ that slide. why? rules can totally be broken in statements.

But, as for verbs, I’d take out “arranging” and “shaping” maybe and see how it read. And I’d take “frequently” out of the first sentence. Why be tentative?

Otherwise, nice. 20 X 200 (and sites like it) are a good places to read short-and-hopefully-sweet product (Oops! I mean art) descriptions.

Check out what Beckman’s site says about itself. Now, that’s a statement.

Can't argue with that.

Artist’s should believe in their art just as passionately as dealers believe in collectors. Or something like that.