The aesthetic effects of negative space move beyond the composition of art. Most often expressed with figures, negative space is essentially the open space around a subject. When looking at even predynastic steles - frontal rocks statues that stand up, one may notice subtle curvilinear markings that indicate body lines or distinct features. These cuts in the material have strategically been placed to indicate a background. In contemporary art, increasing viewer interaction has been a trend, and thus with an emphasis on negative space in works such as sculptures, the viewers can feel a blending of the piece and its location in a gallery or museum. The Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art’s (LACMA) current installment experiments with this artistic appeal through their installment of The Rain Room. Essentially, as the person walks toward the water, sensors turn off the faucet head so the spectator will not be drenched in water. Rather, they will be surrounded by the falling water. This feature is an example of a blended environment where the artist attempts to utilize negative space to express their theme. The speculators can literally stand in the negative space and experience rain without the water.
Renaissance artists used negative space in figures to express symmetry and balance, and through this, the Greco-Roman ideas have perpetuated the importance of illusive balance. It’s through this idea that the aesthetics of the modern Western beauty standard was born. Humans are reduced to the simplest ideas and the contrast that negative space offers; thus the medieval image of voluptuous women no longer cut it. Humans see beauty through the sharp contrast of negative space, and the idolization of curves or the tonality of muscles is a result of this -- not seeing what should be there. The earliest example is Polykleitos’s Hellenic Greek sculpture. This Greek nude is considered the canon of perfect dimensions because of its attention to muscles and realistic style. Contrapposto is the weight shift in the hips of the sculpture, and it is through this naturalistic body stature that more negative space is created, and the piece itself is more aesthetically appealing.
There is more to this thought, where people are awed by not seeing what should be there. Negative space is an illusion at best, almost like the magic of a Jenga tower standing impossibly when pieces are taken out. This is more than just a physical and visual affinity. The visualistic element has enriched itself into contemporary sociology. It’s clear that social media has played a large part in the sexualization of younger people, but it is not alone. As the most current generation is growing up, they are unconsciously pushing each other to do so faster. This appeal is primarily because both adults and their peers expect themselves to mature quicker. Their goals are to push aside the pubescent period that others in the past have traumatically experienced. The pressure to act as an adult is because of the expectation to act as if their youth is not present. The negative space in their cognitive development propels the beauty standards into place. People are considered beautiful with curves or facial definition, because the contrast displaces what the viewer expects to see. Within personality traits, viewers expect to see 13 year olds with braces and awkward neon clothing, yet they seem more obsessed with their social media presence or Kylie Jenner Lip kits. The distinction is that media has influenced standards that accelerate their social and cognitive development. This bildungsroman of a generation is at the helm of negative space as they pose as young adults to present themselves as missing a stage of development. The appeal is that one expects awkward prepubescent girls, but are presented with mature adults instead, and this notion has extended through societal pressures.
The portrait of the aging human is more of a silhouette that expresses the shadows of misplaced mass and cognitive development. Negative space defines the social constructs the world follows.