I just rewrote my artist statement for a top Denver gallery that I just joined.  I’ve read tons of stuff about Artist Statements and how important they are and what they should say.  However, most of the artist statements that I read are complete blather, to put it nicely.  They say absolutely nothing and contribute nothing to the viewer and are written in incomprehensible artist speak.  I am not alone in this opinion.  A friend of mine just wrote one for her latest show and it was exactly two sentences long.  I emailed her and asked if that was all she wanted in the promo info.  It was and is for she does not believe that buyers read artist statements.

There was a link to a website floating around for a while that would create an artist statement for you.  All you had to do was insert your medium and name and a total load o’ horse hockey would pop out.

So, what is your opinion of artist statements?  And, btw, here is my latest version:

Flow.  My art is all about flow, both in the literal sense and the psychological sense. I paint with resin.  When paint and ink are added to resin, a viscous material, the resulting colored medium flows, moves and changes with time and temperature.  My task is to control these factors and create with this challenging medium. 

My art is about flow in the psychological sense as well.  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defines flow as a single-minded immersion in one’s activity; energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.  When I create, I am in the flow for I immerse myself in the act of creating.  The difficulty of working with resin, the inherent limitations and quirks of the medium, do not allow for anything other than an immersed focus.

I create what often appear to be landscapes.  Horizons are glimpsed in the distance.  Shorelines are seen as if from above.  The observer stands on a sandy beach with surf rising into the air.

These are landscapes of the imagination.

We're going sorta veg at our house.  My daughter and son-in-law are staying with us while their new (to them) house has work done on it, like flooring.  So they are camping out in my basement.  Not optimal for anyone but hey, it is free!

Consequently, occasionally (and I actually mean "rather rarely") we all eat together.  As the kids are vegetarian, that means that we cook veg.  At least sort of.  By "we", I really do mean we for adorable guy is a much better cook than I.  He is what I call a "natural" cook.  He reads recipes for the general outline of what to do but doesn't follow them.  I, however, am a recipe cook.  I read a recipe and follow it.  The next time I may modify it.  This all means that between the two of us, cooking is a bit of an adventure.  Now it is more of an adventure as we modify our meals to be veg.

All this is one long lead up to the fact that hands down, the single best online free vegetarian recipes are http://ohsheglows.com/.  That Angela can COOK!  I commend her recipes to your attention.  You won't be sorry!