Artist bios are hard to write! But you have to do i

What We Learned from Writing 7,000 Artist Bios

Communication is increasingly being reduced to 140 characters, emojis, and voice memos. Despite this, clear prose remains a powerful sales and branding tool within the art world, and beyond.

Artsy has created over 7,000 artist bios, and over the years we’ve learned a few things about what our audience of collectors and art lovers finds valuable when discovering new art. Since Artsy’s partners can now add their own artist bios, we decided to take this opportunity to invite Jessica Backus, the Director of Artsy Learning and The Art Genome Project, to share some insights into what makes for a compelling bio and how to eloquently summarize an artist’s practice in 120 words. 

If you have—or are planning to include—artist biographies on your website, this article was written for you. Read on for our best practices, mistakes to avoid, and a few SEO tips for your gallery’s artist bios.

Read more