Light <> dark background contrast is another key element in the aesthetic impact of my work. Light glass against a dark matte background creates a bold and striking visual experience.
I still remember the undergrad psychology lecture—I came to my art practice via a first career in healthcare as a speech language pathologist—when I first learned about Hubel and Wiesel’s groundbreaking research into visual perception. They found that the human visual system is engineered to respond to areas of high contrast. “Edges”—areas with highest change in luminance—are information rich and therefore more attention is allocated to processing these areas.
Ramachandran and Hirstein connected this understanding of cognitive architecture to aesthetic experience, identifying contrast as one of the key elements in the brain’s processing of art in their 1999 article Science of Art: Neurological Theory of Aesthetic Experience (Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6, No. 6-7, 1999, pp. 15–51).
I generally use black grout as a default high contrast background for glass elements. Given how glass palettes—unlike paint—are highly discontinuous in terms of color saturation with huge gaps in gradations there is value in adopting dark/high contrast background and then finding the glass saturations that offer the biggest visual impact. I have also adopted an approximation of grayscale shading using black matte grout as the absence of light to create dimension and perspective in architectural work.
There are other projects where “clean and bright” is the goal and light/pale gray backgrounds accomplish this beautifully. A light background requires a re-thinking of creative goals and visual impact. Contrast can essentially be inverted with dark/saturated glass popping against a pale gray background and creating a bright, bold visual experience.
pale gray grout with dark+saturated glass | Mountains 5@12”x30” c Heather Hancock 2016
detail | Mountains pale gray FROST grout c Heather Hancock 2016
sneak peek | detail from recent commission using pale gray RAIN grout c Heather Hancock 2020
Or low contrast background can offer a softer, floaty effect. Recent conversations with art consultants around the country suggest that this might be a good option for healthcare settings where hard contrasts and edges may be contraindicated. The overall effect is very clean and bright. Lots to explore with low contrast ideas.
Hand held samples are available for client meetings to demonstrate the difference in high vs low contrast background.
8”x8” glass+concrete hand held sample | high vs low contrast background
CITYscape SPRING | pale gray FROST grout c Heather Hancock