For this assignment, you will write a three-page (approx. 1,500-word) artist statement for a photographer who is at least two generations older than yourself, who first came to prominence before you were born, and who is no longer alive. This cannot be the same artist on whom you made an oral presentation.(DO NOT use Ed Ruscha)
You are no doubt familiar with the form of artist statements from your work in PHOT401-402 and your attempts to define your own practice. The goals of this assignment are to apply your knowledge of the form to another artist, to explain his or her work clearly, and to make a case for its relevance in 2013 (why should we be looking at and thinking about this work now?).
The paper should take the form of an artist statement: It should be written in first person, as if you were channeling the photographer (“My work…”). You cannot directly quote any statements by the artist. You are welcome, however, to look at critical assessments of his or her work, which you can use to discover how the work was understood in its own day. (What was valued about it then may not have relevance now.)
Grading
Points will be awarded first for the proper completion of the assignment, then for arguments you make for the photographer’s contemporary relevance, then for proper grammar, then for the clarity and the stylishness with which you express your ideas.
The inclusion of “proper grammar” as a criteria is important: this paper, unlike the others, should be polished, as if it were to be placed at the entrance desk to a gallery and seen by the public. I have overlooked grammatical mistakes and misspellings in your first two papers; I will not overlook them this time.
The assignment is worth 30 points, or 30% of your grade for the semester.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|