The artist CV for applications
Juries read your CV in under a minute. Here is how to structure it so it holds up — with the order that has become standard in applications.
An artist CV is not a résumé in the classic sense — work experience outside your artistic practice rarely belongs in it, unless it is directly relevant. What counts is a clear, verifiable chronology of your artistic activity: what was shown, where, with whom, funded by whom.
The structure (in this order)
- Header: name, year/place of birth, where you work, website. No photo needed — juries judge the work, not the face.
- Education: degree course, class/professor, degrees — reverse chronological, newest first. Self-taught? Briefly name relevant workshops, mentoring or self-study instead of dropping the section.
- Solo exhibitions and group exhibitions separately; each with year, title, institution/gallery, city. With many entries: write "selected" into the heading and cut to the strongest 10–15.
- Grants & awards: exactly the section funding juries care about — full programme name, year, funder if relevant. If you are applying for funding, don't bury this section under "miscellaneous".
- Collections / publications / press — only if substantial. A single local-paper mention looks weaker than no press section at all.
How many entries are too many?
Rule of thumb: a CV that grows beyond two pages loses impact. If you have collected many exhibitions over the years, cut to the most relevant — "selected" in the heading makes that explicit and transparent instead of faking completeness. With few entries, a short, honest CV beats one padded with trivia.
The 5 most common mistakes
- Listing everything instead of curating — nobody reads a 6-page CV in full. Every additional page reduces the chance that the most important entries are noticed at all.
- Mixed chronology (sometimes ascending, sometimes descending). Always: newest first, consistently in every section.
- Selling class shows as "group exhibitions" — juries recognise it from the institution and context. Honesty reads stronger here than inflated experience.
- Inconsistent formatting of year/title/place — looks imprecise even when the facts are right. One consistent pattern per line (year, title, place) makes fast reading easy.
- No date of the last update in the file name (cv_lastname_2026.pdf) — without it, nobody knows whether a submitted version is current.
The CV on your own website
The strongest CV is the one that is always up to date: maintained on your own portfolio website and merely linked in the application. That signals professionalism and spares you the PDF chaos of multiple versions in different states.
Frequently asked questions
What if I am at the very beginning of my career and have little to show?
Education, first group exhibitions, workshops and relevant internships are enough to start — quality and relevance count more than the number of entries. A short, clear CV looks more serious than one with artificially inflated positions.
Should I list international and local exhibitions separately?
Not necessarily — chronological order within solo and group exhibitions is usually enough. With a very international practice, separating them can make sense if it creates clarity rather than confusion.
Do cancelled or postponed exhibitions belong in the CV?
Only if they actually took place or have a concrete date — a CV should contain verifiable facts, not declarations of intent.
How current does the CV need to be for each application?
Check briefly before every submission: is a new exhibition or grant missing? An outdated CV stands out to juries comparing many applications faster than you'd think.
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