Positive and Negative Space pt. 2
I would like to talk a little bit a Katharina Grosse. She is without a doubt my most influential artist at the moment (which I’m sure is apparent) due to the fact that she explores space in so many different ways. Instead of looking at her installations I would like to look at her paintings- particularly her medium(ish) sized ones and how they react (individually and with one another) in a gallery environment.
First of all it has to said that Katharina Grosse paintings are visually spatial. By that I mean they contain the illusion of depth and space within. It is this quality I think that makes the positive and negative space, or the actual and illusionary, particularly interesting.
Looking at View 1, the viewer would be confronted with three different paintings each of which are visually quite similar. However when viewing each the spectator would also have in his or her vision the other painting (or paintings depending on which one you are looking at).
Does this weaken the overall effect of the painting?
What are the measureable differences between displaying a painting this way and displaying, the exact same one, on a blank wall?
In my opinion I believe it does weaken the overall effect of a painting. As with so many things in art I’m not sure whether it is is possible to prove or measure it- It’s just what I think.
What I can do however is offer a list of reasons why I believe this to be the case and hope that they follow some sort of logic.
Pull of focus: It is much easier to focus on a paintings entirety when your field of vision is clear. This wouldn’t be much of an issue with a figurative painting for example but from an abstract painting exploring space i think this point is valid.
Negative space becoming more important, in both senses: If it is a smaller painting the negative space is more dominant and plays a bigger role in the experience of a painting. However if it is larger the negative space is more recessive but is still clear and free from interference.
However the counter argument could be that how many people actually consider the space around a painting when viewing a painting?
Also the subject matter within a painting can completely absorb the viewer- especially if it is something particularly shocking or enticing. But since these (and my own) paintings are abstract- I don’t think this applies as much.
However I believe this to be a important concept to look at as it features greatly in my work and ideas.
