Working Position – Material Practice

Scope
This document defines the foundational terms and principles by which the undersigned engages in visual, spatial, and material work.

Definitions
Work refers to any material arrangement resulting from perceptual attention and manual process.
Material practice means the ongoing, embodied engagement with surface, form, and spatial relationships.
Observation is defined as non-symbolic, non-instrumental visual presence directed toward physical reality.
Viewer refers to any individual who physically encounters the work.
Interpretation is acknowledged as possible but is neither requested nor required.

Orientation of Practice
1. This practice arises from the human capacity to engage directly with physical reality.
2. It proceeds through disciplines such as painting, shaping, composing—named not as categories, but as active, living practices.
3. The work doesn’t cater to symbolic expectation, has no representational claim.
4. It stands as a form of shared perception and presence between maker and viewer.

Intent
1. The intent of the work is to establish direct human contact with material reality.
2. Its function is the facilitation of perception and the presentation of physical form.
3. The work facilitates quiet and sustained contact with form.
4. It invites attention, not interpretation; reflection, not resolution.
5. The work arises from the process of seeing and making, rather than from the need to signify.

Position Toward the Viewer
1. The viewer is addressed as an embodied, sensing being.
2. The viewer is regarded as a human body in space, capable of sensory contact.
3. The work offers no instructions, but is receptive to presence.
4. No statement, explanation, or emotional provocation is made toward the viewer.
5. The work invites presence only.

On the Field of Interest
1. The undersigned acknowledges an interest in the condition implied by the term “existence.”
2. This interest is approached through sustained, direct engagement with what is commonly referred to as “nature”—both in its material forms and in its broader ontological, perceptual, and relational dimensions.
3. This engagement is not speculative, symbolic, or conceptual, but practiced and observed.
4. The work functions as a byproduct or residue of this engagement. It is not a representation of existence; it is one of its forms.
5. The work is practiced, observed, and materially sustained.

Relation to Thought
1. The work is not bound to temporal or ideological frames.
2. Philosophical, conceptual, political, or critical frameworks are acknowledged as valid developments in the broader field of human expression.
3. These frameworks may intersect with the work and may be brought to it by viewers or institutions.
4. However, such frameworks are not foundational to the practice.
5. The core of the work remains engagement, perceptual attention, and the repetition of embodied process.
6. Any meaning that arises is secondary to the act of making.

Time and Continuity
1. The work is not time-stamped by trend, ideology, or historical discourse.
2. It is made to function across time, without intentional reference to current narratives.
3. The practice is continuous, iterative, and autonomous.

Relation to Language
1. When used, language is offered as a frame—not a translation.
2. Language may be used to describe or clarify the work, but the work does not rely on language for its presence or value.

On the Nature of Good Work
1. A successful work does not declare a singular meaning or narrative.
2. It remains materially consistent while offering perceptual variation across time, mood, and viewer.
3. The viewer may, upon repeated engagement, encounter different configurations of meaning—each arising from their own position, memory, or condition.
4. The work does not instruct. It receives.

Declaration

The work  proceeds from observation. It results in form. 
It reflects an interest in existence through sensory engagement, but it does not claim to define it.
It acknowledges thought, but it begins with contact. A strong work offers depth over time, not immediate interpretation. It maintains material consistency while revealing perceptual variation. Each encounter may yield a different configuration, shaped by the viewer’s state or history. The work does not speak—it remains present. It offers its being, not its explanation.

The work does not instruct. It receives.

Jonas Anelone