Figure / Ground Reversals

Normally the smaller area tends to be the figure

Postive-negative reversals

Active shape

Passive Shape

Disguise (cryptic coloration) [at rest]

Display (warning coloration) [active]

Maximum figure-ground contrast

Active pattern on a passive ground can be expected to advance.

Passive shape on an active or roughly textured field will appear to retreat

T E X T
It is impossible to divorce a color from the ground around it. They affect each other. Similarly, shape and ground must be considered equally if they are to share a lively existence.

Normally the smaller area tends to be the figure; yet, when the two areas, figure and ground, begin to approach equal size and a state of balance, the relationship starts to become unstable in perceptual terms. The focus of the eye will alternate between figure perceived as ground and ground perceived as figure: postive-negative reversals.

Active and Passive Shape and Ground
An active shape is one that consists of acute angles, bulges, and protuberances that reach out aggressively into space (a member of the family of the thorn, the amoeba?). By passive shape is meant one that turns inward like a hibernating animal, or is self-contained like a nut, a pear, a boulder. An active ground may be one that departs much or little from a blank surface.

Figure-Ground Contrast
Disguise (cryptic coloration) [at rest] is only one aspect of nature's optical trickery. At the opposite extreme is display (warning coloration) [active] , and often the same bird or insect will alternate between concealment and exhibition, hiding its brilliant patterns one moment and flaunting them the next.

Similarly in art, active shapes may be placed on a passive ground or passive shapes against an active ground. Either is an example of maximum figure-ground contrast, especially if bold patterns and pronounced differences of value or color are used ("cryptic coloration" in art would mean, of course, little or no figure-ground contrast). The effect is one of dissonance, with spatial consequences. An active pattern on a passive ground can be expected to advance. The more active it is, in comparison to other shapes in the ensemble, the more it will muscle to the fore. A passive shape on an active or roughly textured field will appear to retreat to a position within the ground.