Research point, Positive and Negative space

Gary Hume’s work is influenced by many different art movements and his work can be described as Post-modern. His simplistic subject matter and large flat planes of colour are influence from Minimalism and Pop Art. Other influences come from OP-Art and Neo-Geo

Hume states, “I used to think of the areas of color as tectonic plates meeting, so in the paintings it’s like there are these molten plates that would hit each other and dry. I wanted one of those plates to be higher than the other, and I wanted the hit to be more abrupt.” This can especially be seen in the images bellow. He uses cool colours for the faces and warm colours for the background. This use of colour makes it appear that the background is coming forward while the subject moves back. The use of complimentary colours also cause the flat planes to clash and stand out even more.

In “love loves unlovable” the subjects are black silhouettes framed by flowers. It is as though the light it coming off of the colourful flowers. The subjects are made from negative space yet it is clear that they are the main focal points of the artwork.

The silhouettes mirror themselves yet it is unclear which is the reflection. This artwork symbolizes a period in Hume’s life of self-evaluation and growth as to the type of artist he wished to be.

Bellow are photographs taken by artist Amil Jadhav. the purpose of these pictures was to inspire people to adopt animals from shelters. Jadhav’s amazing use of positive and negative space creates impressive optical illusions. When I first saw the pictures I immediately saw the white silhouettes of the animals and assumed that as the positive space. Upon a closer look I realized that the darker areas consisted of people and what I had mistaken as negative space was really the positive space. Although I’d say that the positive and negative spaces are interchangeable.