The self as a problem of existence and its imagery in plastic arts

What is expected from the unity of art and philosophy is to reveal an understanding of art that will mediate the discovery of existential reality by considering existence with an ontological approach. The man who thinks about his own consciousness needs philosophy to make sense of his spirituality. The problem of "existence"- "non-existence" and "self" is the basis of philosophy, which is identical with "ontology" and "metaphysics" and these concepts have been discussed from Ancient Greek ontology to contemporary metaphysics and interpreted in the context of its own era. The knowledge of the existence that the artist sees and determines as reality, constitutes the core subject of art, therefore the aesthetic attitude is primarily based on ontology. While the artist puts the essence of existence into an aesthetic form in matter, he externalizes his perception of being, embodies it, and by reflecting himself, he objectifies the "self" in the work of art. In this study which intends to raise awareness about the interdisciplinary dimensions of the concept of self as an alternative perspective in approaching the artist-artwork relationship; it is aimed to investigate how the artist objectifies the "self" in the work of art throughout the historical process, to examine the representation of consciousness of the self and ontological ways of seeing in intellectual history in plastic arts, to examine what kind of consciousness the artist establishes during the creation process and where reality is positioned according to the artist and finally to examine at what layers self-representations are visible in the artwork according to the ontological approach. To clarify the ontological statement, the concept is also discussed within psychology and sociology, and the artistic representations are exemplified. The evaluation of the meaning and formal characteristics of the personal works was made by referring to various artists' works.