Defining Forms with Negative Space

Juan Sanchez Cotan, Still Life with Game Fowl, Vegetables and Fruits, 1602,Museo del Prado Madrid

DEFINING FORMS WITH NEGATIVE SPACE 

Positive Shape:  formal elements that determine the subject of a drawing and carry the dominance and meaning of a composition (i.e. the subject and primary form of your composition).

Negative Space:  in figure-ground relationships, the spaces or areas surrounding the positive shapes that may also be referred to as background, empty space, or void space.  

Ellsworth Kelly's plant drawing are a great example of showing how to capture complex organic shapes by drawing the space in between the leaves/subject matter to define the positive form.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellsworth_Kelly

http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3048

Look at Kelly's abstract paintings.  How might these studies of plants and negative space in general inform his larger paintings?---BUT--- Negative space is much more than that.  Negative space can carry symbolic value as well - it is the space between and around things - the space that creates dynamic tension and leads the eye through a drawing.  

Egon Shiele's drawing, Organic Movement of Chair and Pitcher, shows the artist's measurements and proportional notations as he is drawing the complex space of the chair.  Take note on how the positive shapes are framed with an abundance of negative space.  

Rachel Whiteread is a British artist who has built her sculptural career on casting the negative space of houses.  These sculptural forms highlight the void that is often difficult to visualize.  

Rachel Whiteread, Untitled (Stairs) 2001

Sánchez Cotán, Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, 1602, San Diego Museum of Art
Take note on the ways in which negative space is an active and dynamic part of the composition in these paintings.   

Franz Kline, Painting Number 2, 1954, The Museum of Modern Art

Franz Kline was an abstract expressionist painter who often set up complex still lives with chairs, stools and other furniture to extract negative shapes that serve as the subject matter for his abstract paintings.

Kara Walker, Installation view of Slavery! Slavery! Presenting a GRAND and LIFELIKE Panoramic Journey into Picturesque Southern Slavery or “Life at‘Ol’ Virginny’s Hole’ (sketches from Plantation Life)” , 1997, cut paper on wall
http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker

Kara Waker creates works on paper and installations that explore themes of race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity.  She creates cut paper silhouettes and installs them directly to the wall. The negative space in these works create drama and high contrast that, in effect, assist in the unsettling narrative these 
works explore.  

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970
Smithson created Spiral Jetty at the height of the Earthwork movement.  Although the spiral itself, created with rocks and earth, are the focal point of this earth sculpture, the space between the spiraled rocks change color with the seasons.  They become pink with algae.  In short, the spiral becomes a framework for the water.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige. Take note on how the artist uses negative space and varied mark making to create a sense of depth within the composition.