What's the English for the Italian 'materico'?

I asked my resident art historian PhD candidate (in the United States). She coincidentally happened to study in Italy. This is what she said:

There isn't an exact English term for 'materico'. In art history, we would either use impasto or mixed media (or stick with materico to explain manipulating materials). Sometimes you will even see an art historian write in bas relief style to explain the feeling of layering to create an apparent 3rd dimension.

In terms of describing an art work, and which English term to use, would depend on the medium... straight layering of paint: impasto, adding sand, etc: mixed media.

You will see more contemporary artists incorporating materico without quotes into their artist's statement, which does work when explaining that they are manipulating materials and, so, you can argue it is becoming an adopted English word.

Ciao, I'm pretty sure

Impasto

is what you're after. It's not really fully what you mean but then, nothing is. Normally we just use Italian words, in this sort of situation. :)

By the way it's easy to see examples of materico, superficially meaning "paintings with ridges and bumps..."

Just google "Materico" and click "images" for 100s of examples:

I'm not really sure if "impasto" has the same sense of "those paintings with ridges and bumps".

For example, Van Gogh's most impasto pictures ... did they have that materico look? Would you use the word "materico"? I don't know.

Silvia, here's the problem you face:

Imagine a SPECTRUM:

On the left, you have completely physical terms.

So...

• it was painted using a brush

• the canvas is made of linen

• she used a tempera

But. Moving along, we have terms that are more conceptual.

• WTF this Caravaggio dude has chiaroscuro locked-down

• it's very plastic (in the sense of "3D ish")

• these naive painters are fun

• check out the repoussieoire on that

And then. Moving right along, you have totally artistic terms...

• this is profoundly modern

• behold. the renaissance. consciousness is born in man. OMFG.

• this is abstract art

Here's the problem you face Silvia....

Superficially, materico just means "impasto" ("thick paint") or "mixed media". So there you go; impasto is the translation to a, uh, English word.

But

because you're Italian, everything gets elevated two levels. This is exactly why it's so hard to, really, translate Italian (especially if you work with product names or the like). Indeed this is why basically for people from Anglophone regions, the best way to deal with high Italian language is just go to, say, Cremona, forget about everything, and constantly eat and drink. Yeah!

Here's the excellent example I always give of this. There's a car manufacturer in Italy who has a model called the quattroporte. Now for rich car buyers in English speaking countries, Asia, etc, this is the most exotic thing you can hear. The word conjures up fabulous wealths of meaning - style, speed on the sophisticated side, a certain manner of living...

Of course, the word simply means "four door". It's a "four door car". A similar older example from the auto world is simply "testarossa. It just means nothigng more than "red head". There was a bit of red paint on the plastic head covers of the engine! But, in Italian, these words feel, and indeed mean, tremendously more.

I feel, from my limited experience of hearing it used, materico means more than "thick paint". You probably use it, even, to describe images (perhaps even just photographs) that really go "in and out" (for want of a better description).

Failing impasto, I feel you will have to make do with a series of words, expressions to convey the materico painting technique or style. One word will not be enough...

I would describe materico as being a type of textured mixed media painting.

Textured because the paint can be applied so thickly that it appears raised from the surface. I also believe that many artists incorporate and bond different fabrics in their works of art.

Mixed media because different mediums are used, I already mentioned the use of fabrics, but there is also metal, plastic, paper, cardboard etc. which artists following the materico style will employ and experiment with. Very often the resulting work will appear to have layers, again this produces a very tactile and three-dimensional effect.

Here is one such example of a textured mixed media painting

The artist Carol Nelson describes it thus

This is something different. It's actually two paintings sandwiched together. The top 6x6 painting is a mixed media collage with an epoxy coating. It is mounted on a 7x7 panel painted to coordinate with the top painting. I think the layered 3D effect is cool. The top painting is actually a demo piece I did for a workshop I gave a couple months ago. I was showing the class how you can use a variety of materials (tyvek, burlap, tacks, in this case) to create a design and then seal all the parts under a layer of epoxy resin.