Artist’s “statements” can take a whole range of forms and topics.
-a more general statement, Marcel Duchamp “The Creative Act” .
Perhaps it is interesting to note this is not a statement about “art” but about the act of creation, it therefore sidesteps what I think is one of the pitfalls of writing “about” one’s art. That pitfall is the over determination of the work by the writing. By writing about the “act” one is considering a way of making rather than what is made.
-a statement focused around a project
This kind of statement seems easier to handle and less abstract than a general statement about your practice
Formats
-Descriptive: Some of Dan Graham’s descriptions seem almost purely denotative but they give a great idea of how the art is working. A description is never purely denotative so a good description can encompass many of the arts specifics and ideas, perhaps a description or descriptive passages have the potential to act “as” the art, functioning in the viewer’s mind closer to seeing the work than having someone describe its effects.
-Conceptual: about the ideas, and concepts, “goals” of the work
In reality most statements combine these two forms, as in crits it is hard to talk about a work conceptually if the reader can’t picture it. However don’t forget that your description can also convey a lot of the same force/form/ideas as the work if you want it to.
Audience
-Who are you writing for? Make this specific (but the whole piece doesn’t have to be addressed to the same person if you assume various readers, however it is nice to quiz yourself a little about who you assume is reading). Possible readers are, your friends, fellow artists, a curator who is working with you or interested in your work, someone who needs a statement on your work from which to write a press release, someone standing in the gallery looking at the work, a member of the press, etc etc. Although we might project a “general” reader, in reality there is no such general person. My suggestion is to make your writing so it feels meaningful to you, to then read it or share it with a few friends and different people and see what they think.
Voice
-Who are you writing as? You can write as the artist, but think about that as a specific (perhaps fictional or formal) position. The artist takes a specific position, but not always a privleged one. There is a way to write about things without claiming the authoritative relation to their meaning. Kaja Silverman’s “Author as Receiver” is interesting on this topic.
-You can also write from the POV of the work. Not as an anthropomorphic view, but from the position of what the work does or says. The work might say “Because a photograph of a video still is already an absurdity—a screen drawn in front of a complex of social and technological structures—a supporting structure of pink steel seemed more appropriate than simply hanging on the wall.” At least this is how I think of work as having a kind of voice, it can still be talked about in the 3rd person ie “the work” (it is sometimes necessary to avoid grammar weirdness) but this points to the operations of an inner logic of the work, rather than the desire of the artist, and sometimes this is appropriate.
Foci
The writing can take up a number of “narratives”
-the way the work was made: this can be practical, or more about the sequence of ideas and association, or the circumstances out of which the work arose
-the experience of the work: this one is tricky, describing the experience a viewer may have with the work can seem to predetermine the work, or it can be dissonant if the viewer doesn’t share the experience. However there are ways in which some statements to this effect can be a benefit.
-the ideas of the work:
-references which inform the work: this can be theory, literature, films, songs, previous works by the artist, etc. Things it might be helpful for the viewer to know.
Methods, Reference, Style
-personal, ie Dieter Roth
or Godard’s “Letter to My Friends”
-manifesto
-instructional or pedagogical : Godard’s “My Approach in Four Movements”
-parallel writing about another artist’s work or ideas. For instance in “Marks of Indifference” Jeff Wall discusses the history of photography. It is obvious but unspoken that this argument supports the choices he has made to privilege a pictorial (rather than deskilled) approach in his work.
-a cool descriptive, almost scientific style is sometimes taken by Dan Graham
-Andrea Fraser, Liam Gillick