As part of the submission process for our monthly online art competitions, we ask artists to provide the gallery with a biography or an artist statement. For our Solo Art Series exhibitions, we ask for the competing artists to provide both with their entries.  In many cases, we see artists who get these two mixed-up or they are combined. 

New and emerging artists should understand that a well-written artist biography is a must when presenting themselves to 1. An art gallery. 2. An art competition. 3. To the press. 4. On your website.  5. Or to anyone who is interested in your art.

In this post, we will compare an Artist Biography versus an Artist Statement.  The following categories or subjects will help an artist to write an artist's biography:

Include the following information in your artist biography:

• Where you born and where did you live after that?
• Where are you currently based?
• What has been your artistic inspiration? Why?
• What is your favorite medium? Do you use any special techniques?
• Did you have formal art education or were you self-taught?
• What art exhibitions have you been a part of?
• Is your work in any collections?
• Name any art organizations to which you belong

The artist biography should always be written in the “third person” (as an outsider looking in, and uses pronouns like "he", "she", "it", or "they" in the biography).

However, an artist statement is different. Think of an artist statement as the artist communicating to the viewer about the art, in the artist’s absence.  Therefore, an artist statement should be short, concise and well written in conversational language.  The following recommendations will help an artist to write an effective artist statement.

Include the following information in your artist statement:

• An artist statement is an introduction and a description of the artist’s art, without the artist being there.
• The artist is telling the reader the artist's personal reasons and motivation as to why they create their art.
• The artist should explain the artistic process or describe any special techniques that were used in producing the art.
• Overall, the artist should provide a statement as to the meaning of the art that the artist creates.

The artist statement should always be written and presented in the “first person” (writing from the person’s point-of-view or from the artist’s perspective). 

It takes quite a bit of time to write an effective biography and to craft a concise and compelling artist statement.  Look and study the top artist’s biographies and artist statements and then adapt yours to their formatting. 

In our Solo Art Exhibition Archives, any of the artists in this section of our website have the best examples of good artist biographies and artist statements.  Artists should always keep these documents up-to-date and try to improve them whenever possible.