The "Presence" and "Trace" of Media: on the Reconstruction of The Materiality of Oil Painting in the Digital Age

Journal: Arts Studies and Criticism DOI: 10.32629/asc.v6i6.4748

Yanfeng Wang

Ukrainian National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Hailin 157100, Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang, China

Abstract

In the "post-media era" where digital image production, dissemination and consumption dominate, virtual images have constructed a universal "virtual presence". This article focuses on the inherent materiality of oil painting, arguing that it is not a remnant of nostalgia, but an aesthetic resistance that confirms “real presence” in the digital void. It evokes the embodied perception of the integration of body and mind through the visuality of touch, the condensation of time and the decisive traces of creation. The article reviews the revival of materiality theory from modernism to contemporary times. With the help of phenomenology and material culture research, it analyzes the contemporary return of the "aura" of oil paintings. Through artist cases and personal practice, it explains how materiality is actively "reconstructed" into a positive aesthetic strategy and philosophical statement.

Keywords

materiality of oil painting, digital age, presence, traces, phenomenology, media theory

References

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