1. Positive/negative shape interaction
Figure Ground
Positive/negative shape interaction

3. Gestalt psychology come out of the Berlin School in the early 20th century.
It states that humans perceive major shapes and forms before recognizing the parts and details that make up the larger whole.
The two gestalt systems that most relate to figure/ground relationships are “reification” and “multistability”

4. Reification: Constructive perception, by which the experience percept contains more spatial information than the sensory stimulus on which it is based.
In other words, we see a shape by what is implied in the provided imagery.

5. Multistability: the tendency of ambiguous perceptual experience to pop back and forth unstably between two or more alternative interpretations.
Necker Cube and Rubin’s face/vase are perfect examples.

6. M.C. Escher
Dutch artist known for designing ambiguous figure/ground relationships in his prints and drawings.

11. Frank Miller
Author of graphic novels known for harsh subject matter and jarring imagery.

16. Mimbres Pottery

19. Robert Longo

24. Yayoi Kusama

28. Kara Walker