Art News India

painting by Van Gogh

The question of what art truly is has long puzzled both artists and art lovers alike. Many have sought to define it, yet no single explanation has ever been fully satisfactory. Perhaps this is because a complete and definitive answer is ultimately unattainable. Art inherently allows both the creator and the viewer the freedom to interpret it in their own way, and many have come to see art as residing as much in the creative process as in the final work itself.

Dr Ved Prakash Bhardwaj

painting by Claude Monet

The question of what art is has been debated for centuries in philosophy, aesthetics, and cultural theory. Traditionally, art has often been understood as paintings and sculptures possessing both emotional depth and visual beauty. Modern and contemporary art movements have significantly altered this understanding. Simply applying colours to a canvas or giving form to a stone is not art. Recently, I had the opportunity to witness an experiment where an artist placed some uncarved stones and called them his art. The artist has the freedom to do so, but this further complicates the question of what art is. Moreover, if we look at the trend of contemporary conceptual art, the number of artists who consider art separate from material is rapidly increasing. According to them, art lies in the concept that the artist has presented. Today, art is recognised not merely as an object or material, but as a process of thinking, feeling, and presenting ideas. Material alone does not define art; rather, art emerges from the artist’s intention, conceptual framework, emotional engagement, and the presentation of these elements to the audience. Material is not art – art is the process and presentation of the artist’s thoughts and emotions, through which the artist attempts to create meaning beyond the boundaries of both the real and imaginary worlds. In this way, art is now breaking the boundaries of material. Many artists are using diverse materials, and there are also artists for whom art does not require any material at all. The relationship of material with art has been linked to its permanence, but today artists are challenging the concept of the permanence of an artwork. However, our question is whether material can or should be considered art.

sculpture by Anish Kapoor

Material as a Medium, Not the Essence of Art

Material has always played a role in artistic creation – stone in sculpture, pigments in painting, sound in music, and digital code in contemporary media art. A canvas is not art until an artist transforms it through thought and action. Marble is not art until it is given meaning through form, concept, and expression.

This distinction was particularly emphasized by Aristotle, who separated matter (hyle) from form (morphe), arguing that meaning arises not merely from the material itself, but from how it is shaped and understood. In this way, Aristotle placed greater importance on the presence of meaning in art. Similarly, Immanuel Kant, in the Critique of Judgment (1790), argued that art is based on the mind’s ability to generate ideas that transcend sensory perception. This sensory perception is essentially related to tactile and visual experience. Trying to understand Kant’s point, it seems he was giving greater importance to meaning and its communication in art.

Art as a Process

Art is fundamentally a process—an evolving journey of exploration, experimentation, failure, revision, and discovery. This process can include tangible actions such as shaping materials, conceptual planning, or intangible actions such as performance or social engagement. The artistic process reflects the artist’s interaction with their inner thoughts and external reality. In the 20th century, this idea was further reinforced by conceptual art, where artists like Sol LeWitt argued that “the idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” In this case, the process of thinking itself becomes the artwork, sometimes independent of any physical outcome. Similarly, Jackson Pollock’s action paintings emphasised gesture, movement, and the experience of time rather than the finished form, making the process central to artistic meaning. Thus, art is not just the final product; it is the intellectual, emotional, and experiential outcome involved in its creation. There is a canvas, and there are colours, but their mere existence is not art.

Art as the Presentation of Thought and Emotion

The creation of art happens through a process. Materials play a role in this process. A canvas needs to be painted, shapes need to be created or placed upon it. At the level of the artist, this is a personal process through which they attempt to transform material into a shared experience. Whether it’s a canvas or stone, and in today’s context, even sound and digital code, an artist uses these materials to make a private experience public. Artists give external form to internal realities, inviting viewers or participants into a dialogue.

Leo Tolstoy, in “What is Art?” (1897), defined art as a means of emotional communication, arguing that art occurs when an artist successfully conveys emotions to the audience. This aligns with the idea that art is not a separate object, but a relational act—a bridge between the artist’s inner world and the public sphere. Through its presentation, art becomes a space for empathy, reflection, critique, and transformation. Viewers don’t simply observe art; they interpret it, react to it, and complete it.

Between the Real and the Imaginary

Art occupies a unique space between reality and imagination. It may draw inspiration from lived experiences, memories, history, or observations, yet it reshapes these elements through symbolism, abstraction, and interpretation. In doing so, art creates a space where reality is questioned, expanded upon, or reimagined.

Paul Klee famously stated that “art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.” This suggests that art reveals inner truths, emotions, or possibilities that may not be immediately apparent in the tangible world. Through surrealism, abstraction, or conceptual frameworks, artists create alternative realities that challenge conventional perceptions and offer new ways of seeing. In this sense, art is not limited to imitation but is deeply connected to meaning-making and transformation. Contemporary Perspectives on Art Beyond Materiality

In contemporary times, many artworks are entirely immaterial—performances, digital installations, social interventions, or time-based works. Artists such as Marina Abramović, Joseph Beuys, and Tino Sehgal have demonstrated that art can exist without any permanent object. These artists have emphasized the experience of conceptual process, presence, and dialogue in art, rather than the visual experience.

Furthermore, digital and AI-based art forms continue to challenge the material definition of art, reinforcing the idea that art is fundamentally conceptual.