The words behind the work
Artist Statement, Bio & CV Generator
Three documents every artist and gallery needs, from a few plain-English answers. Describe your medium, themes and process to draft an artist statement; give the facts of your career for a third-person artist bio in short, medium and long lengths; and list your exhibitions and awards to format a clean artist CV. Everything is editable — copy, print or download it. Built for artists by Nakada Design.
How to Write an Artist Statement
The best artist statements answer three questions and stop: what you make, how you make it, and why it matters to you. Everything else is decoration. Name your medium and your subject in the first sentence — a curator scanning fifty submissions decides in that line whether to keep reading.
Be concrete before you are abstract. “I build reliquaries from salvaged copper and my grandmother's letters” earns the right to a sentence about memory and loss; the sentence about memory and loss on its own does not. Ground the ideas in the actual materials on your studio table.
Write it in your own voice. Read it aloud. If a phrase would embarrass you to say to a collector standing in front of the work, cut it. The generator above gives you a clean, correct draft to argue with — the finished statement is the one you rewrite until it sounds like you.
Statement, Bio and CV — What Each One Is For
The artist statement is first person and about ideas. It travels with the work: on the wall, in the catalogue, on your About page. The artist bio is third person and about facts — where you are based, your training, your best exhibitions. Galleries, juries and journalists want it because it is quotable. The CV is the evidence: the full reverse-chronological record of shows, awards and collections that lets a curator gauge your trajectory at a glance.
Most opportunities ask for all three at once. Keeping them consistent — same spelling of venue names, same career facts — is quietly one of the most professional things an artist can do. Build them together here so they match.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you write an artist statement?
Answer what you make, how, and why — in the first person, in 100 to 250 words. Open with your medium and themes, describe your materials and process concretely, then explain the idea. Cut the jargon and read it aloud.
What's the difference between a statement and a bio?
A statement is first-person and about ideas; a bio is third-person and about facts — location, training, notable exhibitions, awards. You usually need both, plus a CV.
How long should an artist statement be?
One to three short paragraphs, roughly 100–250 words, for most uses. Keep a one-line version for captions and a longer one for catalogues.
What goes on an artist CV?
Name and contact, education, solo exhibitions, selected group exhibitions, awards and grants, collections, residencies and selected press — reverse-chronological, facts only.
Is it free?
Yes — free, no signup, and it runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded.
