Find the Words for Your Work.
You may describe the same artwork differently depending on where the words appear. A portfolio description is not necessarily the same as an email introduction. Before writing either one, understand the work first.
Ask Yourself
— What am I looking at?
— where did it begin?completion
— why these choices?
— what doesn't need explaining?
WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?
What is the first thing a viewer notices?
What forms, figures, colors, objects, or spaces dominate the work?
What is happening visually?
What has been deliberately hidden, repeated, distorted, or emphasized?
WHERE DID IT BEGIN?
What question started the work?
Was there a memory, place, observation, material, or experience behind it?
What made you continue exploring the idea?
WHY THESE CHOICES?
Why this medium?
Why this scale?
Why these materials?
Which decision changed the work most?
WHAT DOESN'T NEED EXPLAINING?
Can the viewer already see it?
Am I explaining every symbol?
Am I telling the viewer what to feel?
What can remain unresolved?
one work,
Different ways to describe it
You don't need to describe your work the same way every time.
Where you are presenting it changes what you need to say.
01 — ARTWORK LABEL
WHERE
Exhibition / Gallery Wall
GOAL
Give viewers the essential information they need to identify the work.
INCLUDE
Title
Year
Medium
Dimensions
KEEP IT
Short and factual.
02 — ARTWORK DESCRIPTION
WHERE
Portfolio / Website / Exhibition Material
GOAL
Help someone understand the idea and choices behind one specific work.
INCLUDE
What the work shows or explores
Where the idea came from
Important materials or processes
One or two key artistic choices
KEEP IT
One short paragraph.
03 — GALLERY INTRODUCTION
WHERE
Email / Gallery Submission / Curator Introduction
GOAL
Give someone a quick understanding of your work and a reason to look at your portfolio.
INCLUDE
What kind of work you make
The main idea or question behind it
Why you are sharing it with this gallery or curator
KEEP IT
Two or three sentences.
Save the full explanation for your portfolio.
THE SAME WORK.
DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF INFORMATION.
Artwork Label
→ What is it?
Artwork Description
→ What is it about?
Gallery Introduction
→ Why should I look further?
NOTE
Good writing does not make the work sound more complicated. It makes the artist's
thinking easier to enter.
HERE’S WHAT OUR CLIENTS HAVE TO SAY
“Because we make everything, we can make pieces that fit together, work together and suit each other”
— Tom Shaw, Founder