An artist CV is not a job résumé. It follows different conventions, a different order, and serves a different purpose, signalling your standing within the art world rather than your employment history. This guide explains exactly how to build one that impresses selection committees.
1. The artist CV vs. the employment résumé
Most artists make the mistake of formatting their CV like a job application. An artist CV is read by curators, grant officers, and residency directors, people who want to understand your professional standing in the art world, not your work history or skill sets.
The fundamental difference: a job résumé leads with employment and skills. An artist CV leads with exhibitions, awards, and residencies. Education comes near the end, not the beginning. 
Employment résumé order, wrong for artists
- Objective or summary
- Education
- Work experience
- Skills
- Awards
Artist CV order, correct
- Name and contact details
- Solo exhibitions
- Group exhibitions
- Awards and grants
- Residencies
- Publications and press
- Collections
- Education (last)
2. Header: what to include and what to leave out
Your header should contain your full name, location (city and country only, not your full address), website URL, and a professional email address. That is all. Do not include a photograph, your age, nationality, or marital status. Do not include a LinkedIn URL unless your profile is specifically curated for an arts audience.
Formatting note
Your name should be the largest element on the page, set at least 4–6pt larger than body text. Everything else in the header should be muted and secondary. The name is the anchor.
3. Exhibitions: the core of your CV
Exhibitions are the primary signal of professional activity. Divide them into solo and group exhibitions, listed in reverse chronological order within each category. Each entry should include: year, exhibition title, venue name, and city/country.
Example format
Solo exhibitions
2024 After the Notice, Galería Norte, Mexico City, Mexico
2022 Threshold, Project Space, Chicago, USA
2020 Interior Studies, The Studio, London, UK
For group exhibitions, the same format applies. If you have extensive exhibition history (10+ years), consider listing only the most recent 5–7 years in full, then adding a line such as “Selected exhibitions 2010–2018 available upon request.” This keeps the CV focused without erasing history.
Common mistake
Never invent or inflate exhibition titles. Listing a student show at your university as a “group exhibition” at that institution is acceptable. Describing an open-call online platform as a gallery is not. Reviewers often check.
4. Awards, grants, and residencies
These sections carry significant weight because they represent peer validation, someone with authority evaluated your work and chose to invest in it. List in reverse chronological order. For grants, include the granting body and year. For residencies, include the organization, location, and year.
Award entry format
2023 — Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, USA
2021 — Regional Arts Council Project Award, Berlin, Germany
Residency entry format
2024 — Yaddo Residency, Saratoga Springs, USA
2022 — ISCP International Studio, New York, USA
If you are applying for a residency for the first time, it is perfectly acceptable to have this section empty or thin. Do not pad it with informal artist exchanges or self-funded travel residencies. An honest, sparse section is far better than a misleading one.
5. Publications, press, and collections
Include published artist books, catalogue essays you contributed to, and notable press coverage (reviews in established publications, not general interest blogs). Format consistently: year, publication or author, title in italics, publisher or outlet.
The collections section lists any public or notable private collections that hold your work. Even a single entry here is meaningful, it signals that an institution has made a permanent commitment to your practice. List the institution name and location only; do not include private collectors by name without their permission.
6. Education: brief and at the end
Education belongs at the end of an artist CV. It should be no more than three lines: your highest degree, the institution, and the year of completion. If you hold a PhD or MFA, list that first. Do not list high school. Do not list online courses or workshops here, those belong in a separate “professional development” section if they are highly relevant.
Example
2016MFA Painting, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK
2014BA Fine Art, University of the Arts, London, UK
7. A complete annotated CV example
Here is how a complete, well-structured artist CV looks in practice:
Elena Vasquez
Barcelona, Spain · elenavasquez.com · studio@elenavasquez.com
Solo exhibitions
2024Sediment, Galería Espacio 21, Barcelona, Spain
2022Weight of Water, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland
2020Ground Level, The Showroom, London, UK
Selected group exhibitions
2024Materiality Now, Museu d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain
2023New Cartographies, Fondazione Sandretto, Turin, Italy
2022Open Ground, Tate Exchange, London, UK
2021Mediterranean Futures, IVAM, Valencia, Spain
Awards and grants
2023Fundació Joan Miró Production Grant, Barcelona, Spain
2021Arts Council England International Development Award, London, UK
Residencies
2023 Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2019 ISCP International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York, USA
Publications
2024 Sediment, artist monograph, Ediciones Tenov, Barcelona
2022 Essay in Material Thinking, ed. J. Morales, MIT Press
Collections
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Spain
Fundació Enric Miralles, Barcelona, Spain
Education
2015 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
2013 BA Fine Art, Facultat de Belles Arts, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
8. Formatting and length rules
- Maximum two pages for most applications – three only if you have 15+ years of substantial exhibition history
- Use a clean, single-column layout with consistent spacing – avoid tables, boxes, or decorative elements
- Set body text at 10–11pt; your name at 16–18pt; section titles at 9pt small caps or uppercase
- Choose a professional serif or humanist sans-serif, avoid decorative or display fonts
- Save and submit as a PDF to preserve formatting across all devices and operating systems
- Name your file clearly: LastName_FirstName_CV_2025.pdf – never CV_final_v3.pdf
- Update your CV before every application cycle, outdated CVs signal inactivity
“The CV is not a life story. It is a curated argument that you are already embedded in the professional art world, and are moving through it with direction.”
9. When your CV is thin, what to do
Early-career artists often feel paralysed by a sparse CV. The solution is not to inflate what you have, it is to build strategically. Open calls, artist-run spaces, and online exhibitions all count as legitimate group shows. Apply to small local residencies before international ones. Enter awards even when you do not expect to win, shortlistings are listable credentials.
A short CV that is fully honest and consistently formatted reads as more professional than a longer one with inflated or inconsistent entries. Committees reviewing early-career programmes know exactly what a first-year CV looks like and are evaluating potential, not prestige.
Building your CV faster
ArtInfoLand lists open calls, residencies, and grant opportunities across 85+ countrie, including many specifically for emerging and early-career artists. Applying consistently is the fastest way to build a credible CV.
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