What's the name for emphasizing the medium?

July 28, 2006 12:42 PM

Art students; what's the word for drawing more attention to the production method vs. the subject matter? Being able to see the ink blotches and finger-prints, for example, versus making a painting that looks a photograph.

Formalism is close, but I don't think it quite gets to what I'm trying to describe.

posted by RobotHero to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

my guess is that you aren't looking for the obvious "modernist" -- but, well, might as well throw it out there in case you are.
posted by fishfucker at 12:57 PM on July 28, 2006

I don't know if there's a single school or academic term that will suit you--off hand, I think that Fauvism or Art Naive might be closest.

Depending on exactly how the piece looks, though, I might call something like what you're describing "textured," "handmarked," "raw," "rough-finished," or "worked." Hope that helps.
posted by Iridic at 1:11 PM on July 28, 2006

Oy. Where to begin? For one thing, in the example you state, the process is the subject matter...that is, the act of creation is the "subject matter" itself. That is, of course, extremely simply put, but you get the idea.

I don't think "Modernist" quite gets it, since so many genres get lumped under the banner of Modernist. Many which don't fit into the distinction presented here.

I suppose the genre that most closely gets lumped into the sort of distinction you present (by the general public, rightly or wrongly) might be abstract expressionism (think: Jackson Pollock, especially)

But, that's very debatable, too.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:12 PM on July 28, 2006

Best answer: Linear and painterly are commonly used terms for describing this phenomenon, where painterly = "emphasizing the medium", so to speak. This describes it well.
posted by pekala at 1:18 PM on July 28, 2006

Response by poster: Iridic: I looked up Fauvism on Wikipedia, which lead me to the term Painterly which might be what I'm looking for.

I just want to be able to apply one word to any medium. The wiki article says that "Photography can also be described as painterly." So if I see a photo with obvious lense flairs and grain, can I describe it as "painterly?" Is that how I can generalize it?
posted by RobotHero at 1:26 PM on July 28, 2006

Response by poster: Pekala, I should preview.
posted by RobotHero at 1:26 PM on July 28, 2006

How about "process-oriented" which I heard a lot in art school, or "process-reflective" which I might have just made up.
posted by BillBishop at 1:50 PM on July 28, 2006

Response by poster: Another question, is there a term for when someone incorporates one medium's quirks into another medium? Like applying a half-tone to a movie, or painting a lense flare?
posted by RobotHero at 1:52 PM on July 28, 2006

Response by poster: Processorly? Or am I just getting stupid?
posted by RobotHero at 1:59 PM on July 28, 2006

I like "procedural."
posted by edlundart at 8:46 PM on July 28, 2006

The Guggenheim calls it process art. (Read the blue sidebar on the left of the page link.) In regards to your second question, maybe "media ambiguity"?
posted by extrabox at 8:56 PM on July 28, 2006

I second BillBishop. "Process-oriented" applies to any medium, whereas "painterly", to me, implies the application of paint. (As aforementioned, you can describe other methods as "painterly", but why?). The "process" is visible by means of ink blotches and fingerprints.

I am interested in book binding, but the content of the books isn't necessarily the point, the binding is. I consider this a more "process-oriented" approach, rather than a concrete, aesthetic, or subject-based approach.
posted by deep_sea_diving_suit at 1:05 PM on July 29, 2006