The views expressed herein consist mainly of a personal perspective on materiality in art, shaped by my artistic practice and informed by my experiences from several collaborations in artistic disciplines.

Throughout these unique experiences, and collaborating with other artists, I often discuss ideas, concepts, mediums, and materials that are or can be used in creating our little and large projects. These conversations go slow and deep and take long hours around the same elements—something that feels odd to other kinds of thinking minds, which aim to get results quicker than we do.1

Instead of rushing, we use those moments as tools, merging in the artistic methodology to discover and explore concepts and ideas that we aim to “resolve” through artistic forms. And this method is not written in some sort of artist’s protocol, but is a method we learn unconditionally throughout studying and practicing art, for it is mostly a natural phenomenon growing in the artist’s personality.

It is important to point out that even though we are not as much writers or theorists, we tend to analyze a lot around certain elements or concepts, and often discuss the material we ought to use, even ready-made or found objects. Intentionally, our analysis rises centrally through three components: a visual way of thinking, visual exploration of substance or matter, and visual impactfulness into the viewer’s inner world.2

Although it might seem like the artist is driven only by the aesthetics of the material, in reality, all these are linked with memorial and experiential psychic content that influences visual thinking. On the return, this process influences the psychic content by adding new multidimensional experiences.

Thus, this process creates a magnetic field of artistic thought and exploration around substance, history, function, color, shape, form, symbolism, and other layers composing the material—sometimes our exploration goes even into molecular composition.3 All these components that I recall in this process of thinking and exploring, triggering hours of conversations between artists or in artistic solitude, stand to me as partaking in what I call the language of the material, on its own form-function or meaning, before being used in/for an artwork.

Materiality in art

The language of the material is not similar to the language we humans use, through words, sounds, and letters. It’s a language filled with visual formational elements, like body language, but with an expanded version that includes history and chemical composition. Nevertheless, the common human language becomes a component of the material language in some forms of art as well.

The material language touches our psychic states to an equal extent compared to the common language, but with a difference in the way it operates—if I can call it “operation”—towards and within our sensory perceptions, uncontrollably.4

Sometimes with a meaningful history and sometimes with a vague one; other times having no meaning at all—depending on its function in human life and its position in relation to time, space, and culture—the language of the material becomes an element creating the language of the visual art.

This so-called visual language is primarily perceived through the viewer’s inner symbolic mechanism—it triggers the inner mechanism unconditionally. Placed in the context of art, the material talks to the artist following this path:

  • Firstly, through the artist’s own memories, by evoking feelings and past experiences.

  • Then it triggers the artist’s intellectual and empirical knowledge around the material and its existence in the world.

  • And lastly, it unfolds a new understanding of the future possible given function and meaning.

Similarly, when it is part of an artwork, it will engage the viewer, experience the same process. Although the viewer is a different individual, with their own unique psychic content and life, the material will tap into a psychic component like it does to an artist—the artist is a human too, no different to this point.

To continue my description of the language of the material and how it takes meaning through an artwork, it is important to pay attention to the material embodiment in the physical presence of the artwork. In other words, this physicality is called an artwork composition, whether classical, abstract, modern, conceptual, or contemporary art.

Also, the language of the material is an integrated part of the philosophy of art, resonating with alchemical processes appearing through the energetic field created between the artwork and the viewer’s experience of the work.5

To an artist, the material not only signifies its function in the work that must be created, or the technical support of the material in the formational, conceptual, stylistic, and physical manifestation of the artwork. As the material resonates with symbolism, it conveys meaning, tolerates psychological function, and possibly initiates inner transformation.

Furthermore, a significant part is played by the artist’s feeling—the sensation arising within through interaction with the material.

How is this interaction happening?

In simple terms, it is a process that we all humans undergo, sometimes being aware of it, sometimes not. Although an artist will consciously begin such a process throughout his own art practice, many times the process begins without the artist even being aware of it.

This interaction with the material is partially physical and mostly a conversation with your own self—if there is one. Its major amount of appearance is mainly internal.

How does materiality talk to us through art?

Here, I would like to bring up an example that has to do with objects. I am using objects in my example to make it easier for me to explain my view and for the reader to easily take in my perspective on this matter in art. Also, consider this example an explorative exercise for yourself.

So, here we have two objects:

  • A cow toy made of plastic and colors.

  • A tin of preserved meat with its label reading “Meat balls.”

The cow toy and the tin are found objects used to create an artwork. The cow is fixed on top of the tin. Both objects are somehow familiar to us, either through their appearance or their functioning in our lives. Through their symbolic visual language, they influence the arousal of our memories. We cannot control this phenomenon, only merge with it.

Now, imagine that we give a title to the work: The Little Trophy, and present it in an exhibition space. Complementarily, the materiality of the exhibition space plays a role in the appearance and meaning of The Little Trophy. Overall, this might reasonably raise some questions. Write down these questions if you can, and wait to review them again at the end of this article.

Now, imagine the same Little Trophy standing on a store shelf. This store has a different space that touches on different information in your memory and perception. It has a noisier visual appearance compared to the exhibition space: it is darker and filled with more colors and shapes.

In this store, the goods are clearly labeled, so you can find what you’re looking for. Now imagine you see The Little Trophy on one of these shelves, exactly as it appeared in the exhibition space, but surrounded by other goods. Surely you have some new questions now. Write them down, and yet turn to them after reading the article.

(Side Note: See the illustration below for reference.) image host

Reinforcing the visual art language

The artist approaches material differently than those who deal with it theoretically: art historians, theorists, critics, and phenomenologists. The artist comes closer to philosophers in this direction. They both dive into deep investigation, separating elements to explore concepts, form, and aesthetics, aiming to reform ways of presenting a concern, always moving toward the ametaphysicality of what appears "in their way."6

In the art world, materiality and objects are seen as metaphoric vehicles. All elements embodied in an artwork—shape, color, material compound, light, texture, style, brushstrokes, shadow, words, form, etc.—come together to create a visual language that speaks to the audience in proportion to the artistic level it achieves.

To the artist, it is a vital part of creative growth, just as important as technical practice. Depending on the artist’s intent, both parts contribute to the value and strength of the artwork’s echoing visual language. Despite the fact that the audience may not be aware of this visual language, to the artist, it is often an instinctive or intuitive response, understanding and reading the artwork beyond conscious reasoning.

Into the process

This article is not a formal essay but rather a personal manifesto, a meditation on how material becomes meaningful. It offers an intimate view into a process that is often invisible but central to art-making.

I invite you to approach it with openness and patience. Some parts are intentionally abstract to welcome you into the visual thinking process. The example of The Little Trophy was included to direct you into the field of critical thinking, helping to strengthen your own independent experience of the art world.

Revisit the questions you wrote. Reflect on what memories or feelings arise when seeing familiar objects or materials. Then imagine how someone with no experience of those objects might react. The response will, for sure, be very different.

This shows that it is not the material itself that creates the language I am describing here, but we are the ones giving it voice, shaped by our memory, experience, narratives, historical context, and, altogether, our inner *psychic composition.

To an individual who has never been cut by the sharp edge of metal, metallic material will not speak in the same way it does to someone who has been wounded by it. And so, it goes with every single quality we attribute to each material—they become part of the visual art language.

I would like to encourage deeper reflection on how and why materiality should be seen beyond its functionality. Even when unaware, we are constantly reading materials.

Last thought

Mastering the ability to understand the language of material, especially in marketing or commercial contexts, allows you to make more conscious choices. Rather than being easily swayed by products that may hinder your mental well-being and spiritual growth, you can develop a deeper awareness of how materials influence your perception and decisions.

References

1 Refers to the slow, recursive pace of artistic thought versus goal-oriented modes of thinking in other professions.
2 This triadic breakdown reflects a phenomenological lens, where seeing is never just “seeing” but always infused with memory and symbolic weight.
3 In contemporary and conceptual art, diving into scientific or material detail, such as molecular structure, mirrors the scientific impulse in art.
4 Material “operation” here is a metaphor—how materials behave in and on perception is a central concern of art phenomenology.
5 This touches on ideas from thinkers like Gaston Bachelard or alchemical concepts from Jungian aesthetics.
6 The artist-philosopher parallel is longstanding: both question appearances, interrogate substance, and create meaning through form.