Figure-ground refers to our ability to distinguish or separate on object from is immediate setting. Underlying and controlling any arrangement of objects and spaces in the field of view is a structural framework. In order to detect its pattern we use a perception that simultaneously acknowledges both positive (object in field) and negative (background). Its importance is highlighted in the observation made by the father of modern painting, Henri Matisse. He said that the expressive power in his work lay not in the content but in the control of the ‘empty parts around them’
The interdependency of the figure and ground is demonstrated in the classic reversible figure show here. If we fix our gaze on the central white vase, the surrounding areas --- represented by black --- appear to define its from spatially. However, if we switch off to a concentration on the outer areas (the two a black face profiles), we discover that what was seen as ground transforms into a figure, now a different entity that takes on a life and meaning of its own. In this second perception, what was at first void has now become tangible --- the vase-to-faces alternation causing a graphic experience of ground as a dynamic presence, being redefined by the same contours that had previously described the vase. In this optical illusion, however, fluctuating dominance of both figure and ground causes the ultimate meaning of the image to remain forever unresolved. Consequently, in order to reduce ambiguity, there has to be a dominance of one element over another.
Dominance of shape, size and value, etc., will determine which bits of information will be perceived as figure and which will assume the subordinate status of ground. While the ground, or ‘counter-from’, shares in the form of the figure, the latter generally has a shape or object quality that seems to visually reside in front of the ground.
See also: Footprint – Interaction – Positive-negative space –Reciprocity Filter
The sunlight did not know what is was before it is a wall. --- Louis Kahn
A filter is an intercepting screen that controls the passage of whatever medium passes through it. Like the filter on a cigarette that is intended to remove impurities in the inhaled smoke, it is a device that, in order to achieve the desired outcome, separates out and entraps the unwanted. The term has many ‘screening out’
For example, it can be a controlling device used in people-moving or traffic segregation, a screen for modifying or absorbing light or for controlling views, or a diagrammatic sieve used for flushing out ideas.