AD4004 Report 3

Gestalt and the use of shape and form

Gestalt refers to the psychology of orderly perception, meaning how we subconsciously perceive objects in the physical world. That we, as humans, want order in form, and how this nature can be exploited through art.

The principles of Gestalt explain this exploitation of shapes and forms in different ways. (1) There are five known principles that can help change order:-

Closure - when broken figures are automatically created as a whole mentally.

Proximity - when close shapes discover internal patterns.

Continuation - when our minds naturally connect hidden things.

Similarity - when similar shapes are grouped together.

Figure/Ground – when a figure is standing in front of a background.  (1)

Here, I have created a representation of a Gestalt figure, that demonstrates the example of the “closure” principle. I have disconnected the individual segments of the snake figure and have positioned it in a way that a second figure can be created from the negative space in-between. This means that there are two layers of closure - the broken figures coming together as a whole form, and the second figure being created mentally to occupy the remaining space. This representation shows a clear understanding of the methods used to shift a person's understanding of form through their perception of the image.

One instance of the use of negative space in modern art comes from artist Tang Yau Hoong, who takes advantage of negative space in images to create pleasing forms. As seen below, his works display two themes at once. For example, the top part of the image shows buildings that lead into the forest floor at the bottom, with the spaces between the buildings turning into trees. These kind of Gestalt works lead the viewer's eye to interpret both themes of the image at once, to create a unique message. (2)

In his book, “Language of vision”, Kepes explains several aspects of Gestalt theory. One of which he calls “The Sources of Colour Experience”, which attempts to explain the nature of colour and its impact on human psychology. (3)

Colour is an experience. Light and its distribution only becomes colour as it is being registered by the brain. The experience of colour has 3 notable sources:-

- RAW MATERIAL – The energy that is created and manipulated by the environment, including the movement and physical make-up of surrounding objects.

- SENSORY DATA – What we see, smell, hear, etc. from the experience. There are three different qualities of the sensation of colour. The first of which is “hue” (the actual colour of the object), the second is “brightness” (the intensity of stimulation from the object or environment) and the third is “saturation” (the measure of colour content of the object, which can be affected by the duration/intensity of the experience).

- MEMORY – The associations that are induced by similarities between sensory stimulation of the current experience with previous experiences. We experience colour stimulations during an experience with reference to the “object world” (Kepes) (3); as a consequence, an individual's memory of colour signifies the colour of objects.

                                    

References

(1) Todorovic

(2) Hoong

(3) Kepes

Bibliography

Hoong, Tang Yau (2008). “The Art of Negative Space”. [online]. [Accessed 22 March 2015]. Available from http://tangyauhoong.com/portfolio/the-art-of-negative-space/

Kepes, Gyorgy (1944). “The Sources of Colour Experience”. “Language of vision” [book]. [Accessed 20 March 2015].

Todorovic, Dejan (2008). “Gestalt principles”. Scholarpedia [online]. [Accessed 20 March 2015]. Available from http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Gestalt_principles