Art as Object

I have always seen art as a means of communication. Thus, my work rarely focuses on materials and processes for their own sake and typically develops from an idea that I wish to convey. That's part of why I work in so many different materials - I don't want to limit myself to conveying my ideas in solely one means that may or may not be suited to the idea I am expressing. And sometimes I will convey an idea using many different media and techniques while looking for the materials and methods that seem to best suit that idea.

Not that art can't exist solely as object as well, it's just not something that I am personally interested in pursuing to its own end. There are a lot of rich interesting artworks out there that have focused on materials and techniques. There are also a lot of artworks that focus on the act of markmaking and on the marks made. And not all of these works are abstract (as an uninformed observer might readily assume), but they all have the commonality that subject matter and/or concept is secondary to technique.

I would like to learn to better appreciate this approach because it is so opposite of what I do. I think that my own work probably needs to strike more of a balance between the two approaches and that I need to make more work solely for the sake of playing with materials and techniques. When I explore other means of creating art, I become better informed when I approach my more conceptual work because I develop and seek out new methods of conveying ideas.