Notan: Positive and Negative Space
The theme expressed in the 2 notans was a tight, but relaxed theme. I tried to make the shapes very relaxed and flowy, making the shapes more abstract. I made the shapes compact and tight to contrast the relaxed shapes. This interested me because I liked how the shapes were close because it made the art look like one whole, but split apart, like a puzzle.
I chose my materials by using the necessary materials, but the most significant part of me was the colors of the paper. The colors would help how to tell which part of the art is negative, and which part is positive. I chose white and purple for the more complicated one, because the contrast is very strong, as purple is dark and close to black, while white is a bright and noticeable color. The many repeated lines from the purple and white art help point out the white and purple. I chose blue and yellow because I liked how they weren’t complicated contrasted but they still look good together. Blue is a cool tone, while yellow is a warm tone. I like how they still point out each other, but not as much as the purple and white. I didn’t want it to point out too much because the shapes were very simple and large so they already helped contrast each other with that a little bit.
I encountered multiple difficulties while making my notans. First, I didn’t know how I was going to approach my complicated (purple and white) notan, since it takes up the whole space of the paper so I wouldn’t know what goes where. I figured it out by realizing that I could just trace the outline of the paper rectangle and erase it later. Second, I would constantly glue the wrong side of the paper making the art look messy. I did this so much on one piece, I just threw it out. I restarted and I'm proud of my work. Lastly, I didn’t know which way to flip the paper cut-outs for some parts. I didn’t know if I should flip it vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. In the end, I just flipped it to whatever I felt like I liked!
I think I could take this to another level by making half of the art contrasted from the other half. I don’t know if I should do it with an art similar to the purple and white one, as the constant flipping would make it more difficult, but the more I try, I think I could get better at it. I’ve actually tried this before and it was so hard so I just decided to do it next time when I have more experience. I could also use less abstract shapes and try to show a story with my art. I could try to represent objects through my art to tell a story that could teach the viewer something notable.
Angelica