Brief:
- Rearrange shapes cut out of paper and find the point at which the figure disappears into the ground.
- Cut out a series of shapes from black paper – squares, rectangles, circles and random shapes – in various sizes, from small to large.
- Working with a square piece of white paper, place shapes of different sizes into the white space; place them on the white one at a time and move them around.
- Try to find the point where the distinction between figure and ground becomes unclear. Does it depend on which shape dominates the space: black or white? Is it about the position of the shape within the space? Think about how important figure-ground relationships are within composition and design.
- Write down your findings, and remember to take pictures of your progress. Submit these pictures and your write-up on your WordPress blog.
I started placing different shapes and changing them around, adding, removing and attempting to re-set how I saw it after each change. It felt clear to me from the start that the figure (the black cut-outs), were dominant no matter what I did to the composition. Even if there was only one small black shape on the big white background.
I proceeded to test if a controlled layout would change the outcome
I felt there was a clear distinction between figure/ground from those tests, Figure continuing to dominate.
The next step I tried was creating shapes within the shapes to see if that might alter how I saw the relationship. I also tested with placing one of the shapes dead center with others creating a circle around. This brought the viewer’s eye directly to the shape (heart)
The shapes made, were now figures even tho they were still part of the background, as in, nothing changed for the background itself, the black shapes connecting created an illusion of shape within them. It seems that no matter how I placed the black shapes, Figure remained dominant. Last I made a new cutout, this time one that was so large that it could compete with the white canvas. The outcome became an equal relationship.
