Isabel+Soble

This piece (pictured below) most clearly displays the gestalt principle of figure ground. The artist, Ridderhof-Martin, painted the piece using the darker color green, mostly on either side; and the lighter color, yellow, in the middle. His usage of the dark colors on the sides brings out the light ones in the middle. Then, to emphasize figure ground, Ridderhof-Martin placed yellow inside the green and vise versa to bring out the opposing color. This way, throughout the piece it changes as to which color is in the foreground and which is in the background. This piece also has continuation in the shapes. Like the collages, the painting seems to have a similar set up as if shapes were placed without intention. There are places where, using figure ground between yellow and green, he also shows continuation by having the pieces appear to fit together. On the right side of the piece there is a blob of yellow in the green and a blob of green in the yellow. If the pieces were taken out of the picture they might fit together just like puzzle pieces. The picture plays on using analogous colors. Since green and yellow are next to each other on the color wheel, he darkened the green in order to emphasize the contrast in colors even though they are so close on the color wheel. By doing this, he allows the viewer truly separate the color and creates contrast in the similar colors.





























I am not sure why my pictures are sideways :( Isabel Soble