How To Write an Artist’s Resume

What is an Artist’s Resume?—The Artist’s Resume Explained

If you want to be taken seriously as an artist, having an artist’s resume or CV is absolutely necessary. From my experience as a gallery director, the artist’s resume is often the first resource you consult when you are interested in collaborating or collecting work from a specific artist. If the artist does not have an artist’s resume or the artist’s resume has not been set up correctly, the interest in and credibility of the artist will collapse instantly.

So, what is an artist’s resume? Why is it so important? How does it look? And, how can you create your own artist’s resume and come across as professional even if you don’t have much (or any) experience yet?

The artist’s resume is a document listing all relevant and factual information in bullet points, encompassing their personal information such as year of birth and location, exhibition history, collections, awards, residencies, grants, press, publications, experience, and dealer directory.

This document provides a concise overview of the artist’s accomplishments, enabling the reader to value the artist’s career and work. If we browse through the artist’s websites of serious artists at any level—from emerging to mid-career to established—you will notice that all artists have an artist resume, and they all have a similar structure, layout, and design. Even more, if we look at the websites of established art galleries—or even the mega-galleries—they all provide artist’s resumes with every artist they represent or have worked with. And no surprise, they once more all follow the same archetypical structure and factual information.

They all have a minimal and professional design; a clean small font in black or grey—most often using a serif font such as Times New Roman or EB Garamond, or a sans-serif font such as Helvetica Neue or Futura—on a blank, white page without any additional color bands, images, or visually appealing interventions. One could even argue they are not very inspiring and somewhat elusive, but that’s precisely what they want to communicate. The artist’s resume must be formal, solemn, pure, simple, factual, and professional.

Even if you don’t have much to put on your artist resume, you must have one anyway. There is no shame in having a brief exhibition history—and if you don’t have any exhibition history yet, read our article on how to succeed as an artist next. We all started somewhere, as did the living icons of today who have a +10 page-long exhibition history.

If you are a beginning artist, it is important for the gallery director or collector to be aware of this. Trust me; it will not decrease your chances of being invited or collected. On the contrary, not having an artist’s resume is what will make your chances for success evaporate. Whereas having a brief artist resume, created using the archetypical structure and design we discussed earlier that is being used by the mega-galleries and serious artists, your credibility and chances will increase instantly. If you have little to no experience yet, make sure to read our article 10 Ways Anyone Can Improve Their Blank Artist Resume next.

As a result, this article has listed how to create a professional artist’s resume—no matter your experience and level. We will discuss all factual information that needs to be included in your resume and how you should write them down, accompanied with specific examples. By doing so, you will be able to create your own artist’s resume the right way. Even more, we also offer the opportunity to download our ready-to-use template for just €2,50. Let’s get started!

Please note that our instructions for writing down the information are not absolute—however, the most important thing is to be consistent in how you write the information down. We guarantee that the advised way of writing in this article is industry-accepted.

1. Basic Information

You start your artist resume with some basic personal information; your name and surname, when and where you are born, and where you are currently based.

If we have a look at the artist’s resume of, for instance, Julie Mehretu via Marian Goodman Gallery (click “download CV”), we see that this is the very first thing on the resume, and this applies the 95% of all artist resumes by serious artist and galleries. This part of your artist resume does not need a heading. You can simply open your resume with your name in bold, with directly below your name two lines to complete your basic information:

2. Education & Training

Next, we must add your education and training. We write down the heading Education & Training followed by bullet points communicating your education. Organize your education and training history chronologically, from oldest to newest.

If you do not have any formal art education and are self-taught, we advise you to leave out this segment from your resume and not mention you are self-taught. If you have had any other forms of education remotely related to the arts, you can also write them down. Think of a degree in graphic design, architecture, or art history. You can also include courses, apprenticeships, and workshops.

Once again, the example is based on the artist’s resume and career of Julie Mehretu, courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery.

3. Exhibition History

The exhibition history is most likely the most extensive category of the artist’s resume. Here, we shortlist all the exhibitions the artist participated in. Or, when the artist has a very extensive exhibition history, a selection of the most renowned exhibitions. Organize the exhibitions chronologically, from newest to oldest.

This category is often divided into two parts: Selected solo exhibitions and Selected group exhibitions. Another possible category is Art fairs. However, if you do not have many exhibitions yet, feel free to combine Selected solo exhibitions, Selected group exhibitions, and Art fairs and rename the category as Selected exhibitions. Specify the type of exhibition (solo exhibition/group exhibition/art fair) in parentheses after the exhibition/fair title. 

This time, the example in question comes from the artist’s resume of Marina Abramovic, courtesy of Lisson Gallery.

4. Collections

Next, we discuss the private and public collections that have acquired the artist’s work. Organize them alphabetically, from A to Z.

Suppose a renowned private or public collection has yet to collect your work. In that case, you can either remove this segment or write: “[Name Surname] is collected by various private collectors in [country], [country], [country], and [country].” Or, even less specifically: “[Name Surname] features various national and international private collections.”

The example is once again from the artist’s resume of Marina Abramovic, courtesy Lisson Gallery.

5. Residencies, Grants & Awards

Residencies, grants, and awards from art contests and prizes are significant assets on your artist’s resume. They are a validation of the art world, as an institution has selected, rewarded, or recognized the quality of your work. They are organized chronologically, from newest to oldest.

You can use the heading Residencies, Grants & Awards for this category, but in some cases, it is helpful to divide them into three categories with separate headings. If you do not have any residencies, grants, or awards yet, you can leave this segment out of your artist’s resume.

This time, for our example, we consult the artist’s resume of Hernan Bas, courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

6. Press & Publications

Closer to the end of the artist’s resumes, we encounter categories compiling press and publications, forming a bibliography on the artist in question. Organize them chronologically, from newest to oldest. You could separate them into two categories, with the heading Selected press and Selected publications or Bibliography. However, when you do not have many press or publications yet, I would advise you to compile them together.

We stick to the artist’s resume of Hernan Bas for this example, courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

7. Relevant Professional Experience & Art-Related Contributions (optional)

A possible attribute—but less convenient—is adding relevant professional experience and art-related contributions to your artist resume. Think of curating an exhibition, teaching at an art school, mentorships, or being a board member at an art-related entity or institution. Organize them chronologically, from old to new, as with your education and training segment.

8. Dealer Directory (optional)

In addition, you could also add a dealer directory segment to your artist’s resume. In this case, you compile all the dealers or galleries distributing, selling, and representing your work. This segment is optional, but adding this to your resume will make your dealers very happy. And happy dealers equals happy sales.

9. Contact Information

A great way to close your artist resume is by sharing your most important contact information—or the aforementioned contact information of your representation if you wish to have all contact and inquiries going through them first.

Artist Resume/CV Template (Word & PDF)

€ 2,50

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We are all set now! And if you want all of the information and structures in one ready-to-use Word document, feel free to purchase our CAI Template for artists’ resumes. This digital document is a template to create your own industry-accepted artist’s resume, which will increase your credibility and professionalism as an artist instantly. The layout is straightforward, simple, and professional, following the most frequently used design used by established artists and galleries—think of Lisson Gallery or David Zwirner. Fill in the template with your personal information, follow the additional instructions at the end of the template, and save your personal artist’s resume for professional use.

Last Updated on August 25, 2023