Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Question of the day


In art school. they tell you to be aware of your influences, to be able to explain how your work responds to other art.

What I want to know is this:

Do I have to really name my influences in my artist statement? Does this help a curator value my work? Does it help a viewer find his or her way? I feel stupid doing it.

(image from Christopher Wool and Richard Hell's artist book Psychopts)

2 comments:

Michael Konrad said...

Don't do it.
Especially if it makes you feel stupid.

I would probably only mention influences if it is directly and explicitly part of the work in question. Otherwise, leave it out of the statement and save it for conversation if you must.

Molly Stevens said...

Yay Mike