16. Composition

16 - 01 WHAT IS TWO-DIMENSIONAL AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPOSITION?
The visual artist deals with space, two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional. Two-dimensional space composition lies between flat and decorative usage of space to the creation of illusion of space or illusion of three-dimensionality. Whereas in contrast three-dimensional orientation deals with placement of objects in space or actual division of space.

16 - 02 IMPORTANCE OF FIGURE GROUND
We cannot perceive objects on a homogeneous field. A need for a heterogeneous field in a figure is essential. Figure ground refers to our ability to distinguish an object from its general surroundings. The characteristics of figure ground relationship are as under:

• The ground is usually larger and simpler than the figure. The smaller an area, the greater the probability it will be seen as the figure
• The figure usually appears to be on top or in front of the ground even though the figure and the ground are in the same physical plane
• Convex shapes tend to become figure and concave shapes tend to become ground
• Unbroken shapes tend to become figure and segmented shapes tend to become ground
• What dominates the eye is considered the figure
• More passively displayed objects take on the role of ground
• Darker colours tend to form figure
• The enclosed surface tends to become figure, whereas the enclosing one tends to become ground
• Figure and ground of same or nearly the same area tend to become ambiguous
• Alternating shapes tend to create figure ground ambiguity
• Strong figure ground relationships create visual excitement and attracts the attention of the viewer
• Generally an ambiguous figure ground relationship is not beneficial
  

16 - 03 FIGURE-GROUND REVERSAL (POSITIVE-NEGATIVE EXPANSION)
Normally, the smaller area tends to be the figure; and when the two areas, figure and ground begin to approach equal size and a state of balance, the overall effect becomes perceptually unstable. The focus of the eye will alternate between figure perceived as ground and ground perceived as figure.

Ambiguous figure-ground compositions can be considered as positive-negative reversals. A strong figurehead composition is visually more exciting and attractive than an ambiguous one.

Positive-negative aspects of figure and ground are as important as the spatial intervals in a point-line composition or the voids in a three-dimensional creation. A successful positive-negative spatial relationship must make maximum use of the total work area. Of course, that does not mean that a checkerboard is an aesthetic success because it cannot sustain the viewer's interest for a long time. So a good composition is one which uses space well, and is also visually interesting - which means that positive and negative areas must be well balanced.