Space:
When you look at the banner at the top of this page, what is the first thing you see?
Is it all the black silhouetted art supplies? Or is it the capitalized bubble letters spelling out ART in white?
This battle is your eyes trying to determine between positive and negative space.
Positive space refers to the main focus of the picture while negative refers to the background. For example, if the word ART was what your eyes were focusing on, than the white would be the positive space and the silhouetted art materials would be the negative space and vice versa.
The use of positive and negative space are used for various reasons; illustrations, propaganda, illusions, to tell a story, and branding a business' purpose and/or motto. For positive/negative space art to be successful, there must be an extreme contrast, or opposing colors.
Is it all the black silhouetted art supplies? Or is it the capitalized bubble letters spelling out ART in white?
This battle is your eyes trying to determine between positive and negative space.
Positive space refers to the main focus of the picture while negative refers to the background. For example, if the word ART was what your eyes were focusing on, than the white would be the positive space and the silhouetted art materials would be the negative space and vice versa.
The use of positive and negative space are used for various reasons; illustrations, propaganda, illusions, to tell a story, and branding a business' purpose and/or motto. For positive/negative space art to be successful, there must be an extreme contrast, or opposing colors.
M.C. Escher Noma Bar
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Maurits Cornelis Escher, better known as M.C. Escher is one of the most famous graphic artists. Escher was born in the Netherlands in 1898. Escher failed his high school exams causing him to attend the school for Architecture and Decorative Arts. This is where he found his love for the graphic arts and began pursuing complex drawings playing with architecture, perspective, and space.
The illusions in Escher's work play with the viewer's point of view, questioning what is real, and battles between positive and negative space. One type of artwork he is best known for are tessellations. Tessellations is a drawing of shaped arranged to fit together without any gaps or overlapping. |
Noma Bar is a modern - day graphic designer and illustrator.
In 1973 Bar was born in Israel. He currently has three books, won numerous awards, and has had over five hundred of his artworks published! His work is both simple but at the same time complex. Like Escher, his designs play with space, forcing the viewer to battle back -and- forth between a dominate space, positive or negative, as they both play a pivotal role in the story he is telling. |
