Although
Chen Yanning and Joanna Concejo were born thousands of miles apart in different
decades of the twentieth century, both of the artists use positive and negative
space to enhance their works of art. The
positive and negative spaces that each artist uses combat each other through
the positioning, arrangements, and tones of the subjects and their backgrounds. In Yanning’s work, her subject is
depicted in the lighted area of the scene and is contrasted heavily against her
dark, black background. Because the
subject’s dress is also black, the only parts of her body that are shown are
her bent arm, head, neck, and fan. Even
the subject’s hair is dark, adding to the negative space of the
background. Overall, this intense reaping
of darkness elucidates the underlying creepiness of the artwork.
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| Joanna Concejo |
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| Chen Yanning |
By having the subject of the artwork starkly
contrast the shapeless background of the piece, Concejo, like Yanning, also contributed to
the unexplainable, calm mystery of her work's subject. However, in Joanna Concejo’s work, another type of mystery
adorns the piece. The piece, unlike
Yanning’s work, has a darker, more textured subject, and a light, white
background. Much more of Concejo’s
subject is visible than that of Yanning’s; yet, there are some similarities
between the two pieces. Both of the
subject’s arms are bent; and, this frozen action delineates the negative space
of the pieces and adds to the sense of structure for the otherwise uncomplicated
works of art (in the sense of form). In total,
through their use of negative and positive space, both Yanning and Concejo
played on their viewers’ senses of loneliness and desperation in order to
create a wave of mystery over their works of art.
- J. A. Kind
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