COLOR PLANES AND PICTORIAL SPACE

  One way to conceive of pictorial space is as a series of layers or planes which overlap each other as they recede into depth. We even have names for such planes. The rearmost one we call the ground or background. The nearest one to us is called the foreground. Those planes in between are called middle ground planes. Pictorial space is created by many factors-overlapping of forms, changes of size or position, perspective and so on. It is important to realize that color, too, is a factor contributing to the spatial relationships in pictures. Colors have an inherent spatial dynamic created by the degree of contrast they make with each other. On a single-color background, any group of different colors will take up different spatial positions. Some will seem to progress towards us, while other will retreat towards the ground. Hans Hoffman, an influential teacher of painting in the twentieth century, referred to this progression and recession of colors as, "push-pull." Forms may be made to advance or recede by changing their color contrast with their surroundings.

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