Visual Artist biography playbook
Medium, body of work, exhibition history.
What the reader is hiring this bio to do
Visual-artist bios are read by curators, gallerists, collectors, and grant panels. They want to know your medium, the through-line of your work, and your exhibition history, in that order.
Credibility signals to include
- Medium (oil, sculpture in welded steel, large-format photography, video).
- Galleries representing you, with city.
- Selected solo and group exhibitions, with year.
- Public, museum, or notable private collections.
- Residencies and fellowships.
Avoid in this industry
- Generic artist-statement language ('exploring the intersections of').
- Listing every group show you have ever been in.
- Hyperbole about your own work.
- Failing to name your medium.
Structure
Preferred structure for the bio
A reliable order that performs in this field. Adjust to the venue.
- 1Name, medium, and city of studio.
- 2One sentence describing the body of work.
- 3Selected solo exhibitions and gallery representation.
- 4Selected group exhibitions, collections, and residencies.
- 5Current focus, MFA or training if relevant, contact.
Tone
How this industry's bios should sound
Quiet, exact, and committed. The voice of the bio should be continuous with the discipline of the studio.
Lengths
Recommended lengths by venue
Openings
Opening formulas that work in this field
Open with the medium and the city of practice.
Inez Bautista is a Manila-based painter working in oil and graphite on linen.
Worked examples
One hundred words. Fifty words.
Inez Bautista is a Manila-based painter working in oil and graphite on linen. Her work draws on archival photography of mid-twentieth-century Philippine domestic life, with recent paintings re-staging unseen interiors at architectural scale. Solo exhibitions include those at Silverlens (Manila and New York, 2024), Tomio Koyama Gallery (Tokyo, 2022), and Tin-aw Art Gallery (Manila, 2019). Her work is held in the collections of the Singapore Art Museum, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, and the Ayala Museum. She is represented by Silverlens and a 2024 recipient of the Asian Cultural Council fellowship. Inez lives and works in Manila.
Inez Bautista is a Manila-based painter working in oil and graphite on linen, re-staging mid-twentieth-century Philippine domestic interiors at architectural scale. Solo exhibitions: Silverlens (Manila/NY), Tomio Koyama (Tokyo), Tin-aw (Manila). Collections: Singapore Art Museum, Broad, Ayala Museum. Represented by Silverlens.
Vocabulary
Words to reach for — and words to handle with care
Cross-references
Frameworks and voices this playbook pairs with
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