A user's guide to art-speak

The Simon Lee Gallery in Mayfair is currently showing work by the veteran American artist Sherrie Levine. A dozen small pink skulls in glass cases face the door. A dozen small bronze mirrors, blandly framed but precisely arranged, wink from the walls. In the deep, quiet space of the London gallery, shut away from Mayfair's millionaire traffic jams, all is minimal, tasteful and oddly calming. Until you read the exhibition hand-out. If you've been to see contemporary art in the last three decades, you will probably be familiar with the feelings of bafflement, exhaustion or irritation that such gallery prose provokes. With its pompous paradoxes and its plagues of adverbs, its endless sentences and its strained rebellious poses, much of this promotional writing serves mainly, it seems, as ammunition for those who still insist contemporary art is a fraud. David Levine and Alix Rule do. IAE always uses "more rather than fewer words". The mention of interns is significant.

Welcome to Creative Skillset - Skillset PVAC Employability ▼ STEP 1: Decide what you want to do - click the red links At the University of Leeds we aim to help you make well-informed choices, based on understanding of yourself, the wide range of opportunities available and the steps you need to take to pursue your choices. If you have not yet decided what you want to do, then click on the RED links below to help you make some informed choices. ▼ STEP 2: Plan how you're going to gain the skills and experience you need - click the amber links Working with personal tutors, and supported by Leeds for Life1, you need to identify the skills you're gaining through your course, and find co-curricular opportunities, such as work placements and internships, to get experience, meet potential employers, and develop knowledge that you need for your chosen career. ▼ STEP 3: Compete for the career you want - click the green links