Negative Space: Protagonist in Art, Design and Architecture

Located in a cultural expo park in Gyeongju, South Korea, this tower is a modern glass and aluminium monument in homage to South Korean history and culture. This purpose is fulfilled by incorporating an inverse silhouette of the 9 storey pagoda of the Hwangnyongsa Temple which was burned to the ground during a thirteenth century Mongol invasion. This tower rises to a height of 82 m (approximately 30 storeys) on either side of an empty space which is shaped in the form of the destroyed pagoda’s silhouette. The top storeys house an observatory and a display hall. This silhouette comes to life especially in the night when it gets lighted up in myriad colours. Highlighted against the dark frame of the building and the night, this carved negative space becomes the protagonist, conveying and celebrating South Korean historical heritage. The structure, in all its modern splendour, successfully avoids stepping over the past and makes a space for it to be revered.  

The post-impressionist Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh had mastered the art of expressing through the negative spaces in his compositions. Van Gogh, a master who painted prolifically through his short troubled life, was unable to sell more than one painting in his lifetime. But, his posthumously recognized genius was to guide generations of artists, including masters like Picasso. Some of his most famous works, like ‘the cat’, are brilliant studies in negative space expressions. Even in his most well known painting, ‘the Starry Night’, the negative space in the form of the sky (background) occupies the upper two thirds of the canvas, while the objects like the hills, houses and fields are limited to the lower third of it. This negative space of the night sky is painted in swirls of blue-purple, contrasting highly with the luminous yellow-orange stars and crescent moon, attracting the observer and evoking intense emotions. The drama of this space contrasts with the peaceful aura surrounding the houses and hills in the lower part of the painting. Thus, it becomes the protagonist in the scheme, the bearer of the message, the conveyer of emotions.

The use of negative spaces to convey hard hitting messages has always been a favourite playground of graphic designers. They are most popularly used in tessellations, which work on this very concept (img. 8) Malaysian artist, illustrator and designer Tang Yau Hoong has mastered this art to create jaw dropping art works, often for social and commercial campaigns. Two of his well known works have been created for the anti addiction campaign – two faces of drug addiction viz. chronic and temporary (img.9) and pulling out of the abyss of addiction (img.10). ‘Sky Aperture’ (img.11) also by him, depicts the problem of urbanisation while his ‘Vengeance’ (img.12) attacks deforestation. Belgian Designer Caroline Remy created this campaign (img.13) for a client who was popular in the market for their smaller animals but had larger cattle as their speciality, by hiding the cow in the negative spaces of the graphic showing smaller animals. Illustrator and artist Ale M couples the negative space with a wonderful use of perspective in this creation (img.14). Lastly, no discussion on negative spaces is complete without a mention of Edgar Rubin’s ‘Vase’ (img.15) which is framed by the silhouettes of two faces in the negative spaces on either side.