Written by: Erin Chin 2008
Looking
into the Void: Negative Space and Neuroscience
“To develop a complete mind, study the science of art,
study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to
everything else.”
Leonardo Da
Vinci (1452–1519)
“It is not exactly the presence of a thing but rather
the absence of it that becomes the cause and impulse for creative motivation.”
Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964)
Negative space and Right
brained/left handedness both have been used in cultures and language to denote
the meaning of bad or immoral. Unfortunately these biases still persist in today’s “politically
correct” society and don’t seem to be becoming popular anytime soon (schools
still enforce right handedness and are very left hemisphere oriented). But what is meant by right brained or
negative space? It has become quite
known that the two hemispheres of the brain, the right and the left bridged by
the neural tissue called the corpus callosum, are better at some functions than
others. The left brain is believed to be
better at verbal, analytic, temporal, and linear functions, often called left
brain functions; while the right brain functions lean towards spatial,
holistic, synthetic and analogical functions. We are taught to use, and even value, our left brain functions more than
the right brain functions in school and later in life. Negative space is the space between
objects. The negative space forms its
own shapes, but these unique shapes are usually ignored and not even noticed.
However, not all people buy into
these biases. In the Japanese art
tradition, this empty space is called ma,
which is expressed as a valuable space, not worthless. Artists of all medium from sculpture to
photography spend years training and enhancing their right brain functions and
ability to manipulate negative space. Because of this intense focus on the “bad” aspects of reality, they have
been able to create art that takes a common object, say a pencil, and recreate
the pencil in a way that allows non-artists to perceive the object with new
found attention and perception. That is
art, the ability to recreate reality from a different perception, which is
enhanced by the manipulation of space by the artist’s right brained enhanced focus.
Nonetheless, no matter how stunning the
art is, it is still just the end result, while the process of creating that art
is the most intriguing.
Artists of many mediums often
balance space in their works. Positive
space, negative space, and even format space all are important factors for the
layout and overall composition of a piece of artwork. For a better understanding of how these
artists manipulate space, an understanding of the different types of spaces is
required. Positive and negative spaces
are dependently connected. Positive
space is the space the objects possess while negative space is the space
surrounding the objects. Both positive
and negative spaces are further defined by the format or the edges of the
medium that contain both the positive and negative space respectfully (however,
in sculpture, format is not applicable making negative space nearly indefinable).
Most people can point out, or “see”
positive space and the format (the easiest is when the art is in a frame). Negative space is another matter. To the untrained eye the negative space isn’t
there. They don’t “see” the shapes made
up by negative space. Let’s take a
simple example, say a stool against a white wall. Most people when they try to draw what they
see, try to outline the stool. They
don’t see the shapes the gaps between the legs and the wall make. Therefore, they are only drawing consciously
half of what they see, that is, only the stool and not the wall. Without the wall there to add contrast to the
stool though, the stool wouldn’t be seen to begin with, because it would blend
into the background and wouldn’t be stool anymore. So technically they are drawing both the wall
and the stool, but only trained artists are consciously aware of it. The artists due to this awareness can
therefore manipulate this space to enhance their pieces.
In Drawing on the Right Side of
the Brain by Betty Edwards, her goal is to teach people to “see” or to
become aware of what they actually perceive, in this case negative space. In the beginning, she uses the analogy of a
puzzle to demonstrate how positive and negative spaces are contrasting
variables that are defined by the other variable. If each object is it’s own puzzle piece and
the background made up of the other pieces, than the line (also known as contour)
connecting each piece that is formed when the puzzle is constructed shows that
all the objects, or positive space, are connected to each other through that
line, and that the background, or negative space, are shapes as well. She continues later on to help visualize (for
only if it can be visualized can it become conscious and therefore used)
negative space with the common cartoon image of Bugs Bunny. When Bugs Bunny runs through a door, the door
becomes the negative space and the hole that is left in the space of the rabbit
is the positive space. There is no
rabbit in the door, but can be inferred by the silhouette supplied by the
door. Negative space does the same
thing, when negative space is the object of choice, the shapes and angles of
the negative space are highlighted and the “empty” space left behind gives the
shape of the positive spaced objects.
Another way to make the negative
space easier to see consciously is to make the object white and the background
black in a white and black picture. For
instance, the famous face/vase picture illusion is a good example. If the vase is black, the vase stands out and
only after a great deal of concentration can the faces be perceived. Now, if the vase becomes white, the faces
become more obvious than the vase. The
secret to the illusion is the fact that the negative space actually creates a
shape that can be recognized by the left brain that can give the shape
symbolism and a verbal name. Many
teachers use these face/vase drawings to teach students to become consciously
aware of the negative space, which is basically changing your perspective. Artists have a different perspective of what
they observe which they can change at will, while the rest are use to just one perspective
of seeing, and that is usually with the left brain functions. Many visual illusions implement the ability
to change perspective of one object or drawing.
Every form of art manipulates
negative space: 2-D (like painting, drawing, and even photography), 3-D
(sculpture) and music. Take Leonardo Da
Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” for example. This piece of 2-D artwork is ideal in showing how the artist manipulates
the positive space, the negative space, and even format space to balance the
composition of the piece. First, the
positive space of the eight legged man is what people see right away. However, the negative space and formatting
give the piece its appeal. In this
example the format and the negative space actually compete for dominance of the
observer’s attention. The format is both
the circle and the square, but the man is only trapped within the square and
where the circle cuts into the square. However, the negative space is not confined to the space between circle
and square and pushes the boundary of the format past that area into the rest
of the circle and square. The eye starts
off looking at the man, and then is carried out to the edges of the circle, and
bottom of the square by the negative space. Therefore, by manipulating the negative space with the format Da Vinci
turns a plain eight legged figure into an intriguing study of the human
form.
Photography uses negative space to
give form to the positive space, but also to define the directions the eyes
should move while looking at a piece. For example, Ansel Adams’s “Aspens, Northern New
Mexico, 1958” print. The
photograph is of a glad of aspen tree trunks with one distinct tree in the
foreground. The positive space is the
all the areas taken up by the tree trunks, the one whole tree and the low
shrubs. The rest of the photography is
negative space and the format is the rectangle formed from the dimensions of
the print itself. In this example the
shapes formed by the negative space are easily visualized, and there is an
equal amount of negative space versus positive space (not always the case). The shapes of the negative spaces are used to
highlight the positive space, and the positive space is like a road map for the
eyes. The positive space intercedes with
the format mostly on the top and the bottom of the frame. This draws the eye to move up and down the
picture simulating the head movement and awe of taking in the grandiose of the
forest.
The hardest art to appreciate the
manipulation of negative space is 3-D art or sculpture, because the format, or
frame, of the art is not palpable. That
makes the negative space hard to define into specific shapes due to the large 3-dimensional
area the negative space occupies. For
example, Henry Moore’s and Dame Barbara Hepworth’s famous sculptures utilize
negative space expertly. These friends
both are known for carving out spaces in their sculptures. Some say Henry Moore was connecting the
rolling landscape with the human figures by cutting out concave rounded
segments. Dame Barbara Hepworth was more
consciously aware of the voided spaces in the sculptures and often made
observes notice the holes more sharply by stringing cords through the holes. She was trying to allude to the importance
between space and mass. But, both these
sculptors owe credit to the sculptor who first famously manipulated voids,
namely Alexander Archipenko. Alexander Archipenko is known for
being a cubist sculptor who introduced voids into his art (among other
things). He studied the relationships
between voids and solids (positive and negative space) as well as concave and
convex forms turning the cubist’s overlapping planes into 3-D overlapping
perspectives from one angle. The
overlapping perspectives are possible, because of the voids. Other areas of the sculpture that would have
been blocked from view are now seen by looking through the voids, and the voids
themselves add texture and meaning to the sculpture. The use of negative space in sculpture allows
the observer to not only see defining shapes and silhouettes as in 2-D art, but
adds another dimension of perspective of seeing through into the interior of
space. 3-D art physically allows
negative space to form a tangible shape, paradoxically by being defined by
positive space and being empty!
Musical negative space is called
silence. The silences between notes,
chords, symphonies, and so on, are just as important to the musical piece as the
notes chords and symphonies; and are sometimes even more important. Musicians use silences for many reasons, but
one of the most striking reason is when the silences fool the expectant
listener into thinking the piece is over, or even not over when the piece
is. Many pieces have silences between
segments and it is always clear if a new listener is in the audience because
they start clapping at inappropriate silences. It is the suspense of surprise created by the composer that keeps people
intrigued and to actually listen to the music itself. However, when the silence is unexpected due
to the piece being done that leaves people with the unsettled awareness of the
negative space that lasts for a large amount of time. Maurice Ravel’s piece Bolro ends in such a
manner. Throughout the piece the
negative space is vaguely apparent with the repetitiveness of the piece. But, at the very end the piece abruptly
becomes silent, shocking the perception of time and sound onto the forefront of
consciousness. Negative space has suddenly
become crystal clear with only echoes of Bolro ringing in the ear.
Positive space (objects) and format
space (edges) to some degree are well understood in neuroscience. Certain colors, luminance, even illusions of
motion and depth trigger certain neurons in specific areas of brain
regions. Even certain edges or lines in
certain angles excite specific neurons in the visual cortex. But without negative space (contrast), those
neurons could not be enticed to fire, because edges could not be separated from
other spaces. Therefore, perceiving the
negative space is vital to deeply understanding why the neuron fires and not
just what causes the neuron to fire. This understanding might even become more complex with the idea of right
brain functions versus left brain functions. But first, what causes the neurons to fire given a visual stimulation
like an edge to begin with?
There are two processes in the
visual system: the What and the Where systems. The What and the Where systems are activated by different stimuli in the
environment as well as process the information slightly differently. The What system is responsible for recognition
of objects, color and complex detail. The Where system is responsible for the “perception of motion, space,
position, depth (three-dimensionality), figure/ground segregation, and the
overall organization of the visual scene” (Livingstone, pg. 50). The four ways the two systems differ in
processing information are: color selectivity, contrast sensitivity, speed, and
acuity or resolution. The Where system
does not pick up color, but the What system does. The Where system has high contrast sensitivity
being able to distinguish slight differences in brightness, while the What
system has low contrast sensitivity. The
Where system processes information faster than the What system, but has lower
acuity than the What system. Negative
space is mostly the focus of the Where system (relying on contrast sensitivity,
spatial segregation, and organization), but the What system can also pick up negative
space that the Where system cannot, therefore both influence the perception of
negative space. For instance, when
colors are equiluminant the Where system can’t distinguish between the two
colors, because the luminances of the colors are equal: or the same gray in a
black and white world. Therefore, only
the What system can distinguish the shapes made from the two colors and “sees”
negative space (even though the picture shimmers because the Where system plays
a major role in determining position, and can’t determine position if it can’t
distinguish the shapes). From an
evolutionary stand point, the Where system is more primitive than the What
system, therefore the What system is thought to have been an adaption to the
Where system for color, complexity and object recognition.
In the visual system there are two
steps for information procession. The
first step involves center/surround cells that are activated when light hits
certain areas on the cell (the center or the periphery depending on the type of
center/surround cell). On the cell there
are stimulatory areas and an inhibitory areas and the ratio of light hitting
the two regions determines if the cell fires or not. Therefore these cells respond to
discontinuities of light or abrupt changes in luminance. In the What system these type of visual cells
are broken down into more specific color activation cells (Type 1 and 2) while
the Where system just has black and white center/surround cells. The second step in the visual system is the
detection of edges. In a famous
experiment conducted by David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel, they found that edge
detector cells fired when a stimulus was at a certain orientation or
angle. They also realized that the
deeper into the visual cortex the cells gradually become more specific for
other characteristics like contours, curvature, and corners. Both steps together form distinct shapes by
incorporating both discontinuities of light and the edges of these discontinuities. Therefore the visual system is designed to
incorporate both negative space and positive space which are defined by edges
and discontinuity of light.
As mentioned earlier, there are
functional differences between the right and left hemispheres of the brain and
both play very different roles in vision. To recap, the left brain is believed to be better at verbal, analytic,
temporal, and linear functions; while the right brain functions lean towards
spatial, holistic, synthetic and analogical functions. These sides can be loosely correlated to the
What and the Where system. Therefore, is
it possible that one hemisphere actually does process one of the systems more
than the other system? If so, that could
explain why the right hemisphere is more spatial and the left hemisphere is
more verbal. Unfortunately, that
question is still unsolved.
Not much more is known about the
deeper visual system, but even from the initial stimulation of the three types
of visual cells a clear distinction is discerned between spaces in the actual
structure of the cells. The cells themselves
have a positive space (the stimulatory area) and a negative space (the
inhibitory area). The deeper into the
visual cortex, the more the cells discriminate specific differences. The basic concept of negative space
progresses like the visual cortex into more complex differences like tonal
gradients or shading, perception and depth. These complexities are based on the gradients of space which negative,
positive and format initiate, and are constantly being stretched and
manipulated by artists. When the space
is manipulated expertly, the visual and auditory imagination is activated too. This visual imagination is like the ability
to compensate for the eye’s blind spot, to be able to perceive motion, to
perceive other objects in a piece of art (like Bev Doolittle’s famous camouflage
paintings) or even fill in objects that aren’t there. For example, take the unicorn painting by
Nancy Chien-Eriksen. It is not a true
negative space painting because the positive space is not silhouetted, but
stretches the concept of space by just painting the shadows of the
unicorn. At face value, the picture is a
conglomerate of black shapes. But the
beauty of the piece and the visual system is that the unicorn, the positive and
even negative space can be seen in the imagination! How? Science doesn’t know exactly. But
artists invisibly draw the spaces by leading the eye with strategic lines
spurring the imagination and expectations of the viewer. Therefore, one piece of art is seen differently
each time it is viewed. When the
auditory imagination is activated musical pieces float in the head. Bolro is a good example of auditory
imagination. At the sudden silence at
the end of the piece many people still “hear” the music repeating in their
heads. Musical images, or the music
playing in the head, are very common, and composers create such musical hooks
purposely. Sometimes just the name or a
couple of notes just need to be heard and the imagination plays it.
What scientists haven’t paid
attention to that artists have and understood the importance of, is the
connection between negative space and the rest of space. Maybe it’s because most people aren’t
consciously aware of it, but that doesn’t mean it is not important to vision. Also, maybe because the study of negative
space dives into the processes of consciousness, that is also still not understood,
that scientists ignore it. So if
scientists want to “see the whole picture” of vision then they must look into
the void. It might start to explain why
visual illusions shock people, why people can only see one perspective at once,
and who knows, maybe even lead to the admiration and cultivation of the right
hemisphere’s view of the world.
Artists use all spaces, especially
the ignored negative space, to change our view and our perception of the world,
while scientists are studying one space, namely the positive space. Artists understand that the observer is part
of space, makes their own spaces and has influence over space. People are not just observers who perceive
light in one dimension, but all dimensions including time. Therefore, science’s study of vision is
one-sided and has a long way to go before it can understand the multi-perspective
visual feast that artists capture and appreciate.
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