Abstract

Mixed-media practice expands the visual language and expressive potential of contemporary art. By combining materials with different physical properties, surface textures, origins, and cultural meanings, artists create new visual effects and expressive relationships among materiality, form, and content. Drawing on theories of artistic materiality, material culture studies, and haptic visuality, this article employs case-study analysis to examine the role of materials in creative practice. Through an analysis of expression, texture, colour, form, space, and composition, it argues that the effectiveness of mixed-media art depends not on the number of materials used but on how their relationships are organised. The findings conceptualise mixed-media practice as a process of constructing visual language and emphasise the importance of experimentation, technical knowledge, and environmental awareness in contemporary artistic creation.

Keywords: Contemporary art, materiality, mixed media, surface texture, visual language.