How to build an art CV that opens doors

An art CV looks superficially like a regular résumé and is actually a different document entirely. It is read for different signals, formatted by different conventions, and updated on a different rhythm than the kind of CV you would submit for a job. Most artists try to adapt their professional résumé into an art CV and produce something that confuses panels — too much job-history detail, not enough exhibition history, categories in the wrong order, dates inconsistent. The right art CV is short, scannable, and structured to answer one question: "Has this person been making and showing work over time?" A panel reading a CV is not looking for accomplishments to compare across applicants on a leaderboard. They are looking for evidence that the artist has a sustained practice — that the work is part of a life, not a project the applicant is trying out. The CV is the easiest place to demonstrate this, because the dates are inherent to the format. This guide assumes you have a few years of working practice. It is not a guide for filling out a CV when you have nothing on it — that's a different problem requiring different solutions, which Step 8 addresses. The seven steps before that walk through the structure, categories, formatting, and edge cases of building a CV that holds up under the kind of fast scanning a residency panel does. Plan two focused hours for the first full build. Subsequent updates take 20–30 minutes per quarter.