Greg Payce and the negative space in art

Greg Payce It is one of the great artists that uses the negative space in art.

The way in which our perception generates forms or figures does not occur through reasoning or thoughts, but by the data that enters through the eye, which is an image, which, in turn, is nothing more than many points of light.

Therefore, the Gestalt school proposed a series of principles of organization of figures that are applied to the images.

Content

• Figure and background
• Greg Payce and the negative space
• The importance of negative space in art
  • Bibliography

Figure and background

One of these principles is that of good continuation and common destiny. According to it, When an interruption is given on the edges of an image, our perception continues the form following the progression of visible lines or direction.

All this does to, finally, group and form an organization greater than the elements that move together in the same direction, or common destination.

To exemplify, the case of a flock of birds could be cited in the sky. When they move together we cannot see them as if it were a single "entity". But, according to the common destination principle, the tendency is to see birds as a major grouping that is directed towards the same direction.

It follows that perceiving forms will depend on the data that reaches the eye, as well as what the perception does with them and the knowledge of the proposed principles of the Gestalt school is nothing more than a way of inferring what is unknowable to us initially.

When an organization arises, in the form of grouping, in the visual field, perception assigns certain roles. Thus, some groupings will be defined as forms, which are called Figures. The rest of the grouping will be organized as a space without form, and this is called background.

Being able to assign the figure and background to an image is very important, since this affects the experience we have of the world.

As is well known by the Gestaltics, The figure is seen later, It will be easier to recognize and It will be better remembered than the background.

Rubin's figure is one of the great examples in which the organization is shown with difficulty to establish what the form and what is the figure. Well, perception tends to see two profiles, one in the figure and one in the background, in addition, among them you can see a glass in front of a white space, or background.

These visual stimuli can be ambiguous, but perception generally tries to reach a conclusion. Therefore, the process is surprising when it sends two or more interpretations, then, it reminds us that there is a relationship between perception and the environment.

Greg Payce and the negative space

Before knowing Greg Payce's work, it is important to highlight what the positive space is and what is the negative space in art.

The positive space refers to the subject or the areas of interest in an artistic work such as, for example, the face, the figure of a person in a portrait, objects in a work of a dead nature or the trees in a landscape work. Instead, The negative space in art is the background or area surrounding the theme of the work.

Every day there are more artists who strive to work with the negative space in art to create surprising sensations. One of them is Greg Payce.

In general, Both the positive and negative space work together so that there is a balance in the composition. Without such balance, a work could be overwhelming in view of the view or not activating the design, so it would be very boring. This is why many artists plan the areas of negative space in art, as well as do it with active space.

In the case of Greg Payce, he has become a specialist working the negative space in art.

In many of his works, effects similar to the figure of Rubin can be noticed. For example, in the work APPARENTLY (1999), by Greg Payce, which is currently in the Gardiner Museum in Canada, you can see the similarity with Rubin's work.

In APPARENTLY, The jugs are willing in such a way that two children's figures are generated among them And perception has difficulty identifying whether children are figure (stimulus) or if it is a background (space between stimuli).

Currently, Greg Payce is recognized worldwide thanks to his ceramic works, which combine vases with articulated profiles with detail and precision.

When these vases are perfectly aligned, illusory images appear; Many of them are human figures. And all this happens in negative spaces.

Since 2007 this artist has worked with large -scale lenticular photographs To give viewers new possibilities of experiencing the original works. These lenticular photographs include digitally remastering images and lenses, which make it possible for incredible three -dimensional illusions to form. In addition, PayCE has ventured into the creation of projected videos on moving works, shaping sequences that are fascinating.

For more than forty years, Payce is working with ceramics and has exhibited his works in many exhibitions. Now, he collaborates with photographers and composers to produce videos, encouraging negative spaces in art!

The importance of negative space in art

The negative space in art is very important, because, it appears in almost all drawings and paintings. As pointed out, Rubin's vase is an example par excellence.

In Rubin's vase, emphasis is placed on the negative space and in the middle of the composition there is a positive or activated space. On both sides appear portraits of people.

It should be noted that, although the negative space has no defining details, hard edges help parts of the image be activated and that the mind, with its amazing capacity, fill in those blank spaces.

In conclusion, the negative space in art should never be underestimated. Well, it does not mean that it lacks energy. On the contrary, if elements are eliminated in an image, The negative space can generate mystery and evoke emotions of loss or yearning.

That is why it is so important when giving more weight meaning to a work of art.

Discover the best optical illusions

Bibliography

• Image: http: // www.CASV.CA/CASV/Artist-Talks/Greg-Payce
• Garneau, d. (2002). Greg Payce.
• McKenzie, h. (2012). Greg Payce: Illusions. Ceramics Monthly, 60(2), 38.
• Perron, m. (2012). Greg Payce: Illusions/Greg Payce: Illusions, The Raphael Yu Center of Canadian Ceramics, Gardiner Museum. Espace Sculpture, (101), 49-51.
• Perron, m. (2011). Inhabiting Spaces. Espace Sculpture, (95), 40-41.