Negative Space [Paperback]

Noma Bar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2009

As an artistic device, ?negative space? refers to an artist?s rendering of a subject by relying on the space that surrounds the subject to provide shape and meaning. Of course, the term also refers to any topic that conjures feelings of unease and discomfort. Furthering the partnership begun with the publication of Guess Who? internationally acclaimed illustrator Noma Bar has compiled his newest collection of work, Negative Space.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Mark Batty Publisher (June 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981780555
• ISBN-13: 978-0981780559
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 0.5 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Show, don't tell.', September 19, 2009

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Negative Space (Paperback)

Noma Bar has made a career of what he calls 'pain relief' - 'Art directors and editors present Bar with a brief, which he must convert to an illustration, often on a tight deadline'. NEGATIVE SPACE is a beautifully designed book (from Mark Batty Publisher) that without words displays the genius that is Noma Bar. Page after page reveals his ability to make loud statements about all manner of concepts - from race relations, public policy, politics, sex, crime, and national identity to global conversations of crisis, and he accomplishes poignant commentary by the very simple use of negative space.

Viewing Bar's art takes some cerebral input: the images are strong works of art, but the messages they convey are even stronger. There are such images as a skull whose sockets are comprised of spider forms ('The ultimate spider hunter'), a pair of red boxing gloves hanging so that the spaces created between the thumb portion and the hand portion become the body of a muscle man ('Power to the People'), a gun whose trigger is the mouth of a dead head's face 9 ('Gun crime'), and an image of a dog whose features are replaced by female body parts ('Horny dog'). There is so much good humor as well as an equal amount of controversial ideas that the reader will find returning to this book a necessity to remember al the levels of artistic and philosophical information gathered here. This is an outstanding book of art design at its best. Grady Harp, September 09

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big idea graphics, December 4, 2011

By 

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Negative Space (Paperback)

You don't see this level of creativity too often which is why I enjoyed this book so much. Noma Bar sort of does the impossible and sums up an almost abstract concept with what seems incredibly simple graphics. They are simple, of course, containing flat colors and easy on the eye graphics but step back and look carefully at what you see and it will become apparent that these are really complex examples of visual literacy.

It's a shame that nowhere in the book are a couple of examples of how Bar creates his remarkable graphics. How long do they take, how many ideas are rejected, is color included in his original roughs? On eight pages at the back of the book there are some thumbnails of his sketchbooks but they look completely unlike his finished designs, in fact a pastiche of colored scribbles, so no help there.

The range of material is impressive though there is a strong leaning towards contemporary world problems and Bar's work is the ideal illustrative material for this because his ideas get to the point where a photograph to say the same thing would be hard to find. His `Global warming' graphic says it all with a silhouette of a fried egg breaking out of a black panel and the yoke is a globe with the land mass a tint of light grey.

My only criticism of the book is that it is too large. Bar's graphics, because of their straightforward presentation, work best at postcard size or smaller and on these pages there is either a lot of surplus page space with a reasonably sized image or large areas of flat colour because the image are so big.

+++LOOK AT SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

5.0 out of 5 stars Noma Bar takes the world's toughest realities and makes them easy to take in. And how beautiful they are..., April 8, 2010

By 

N. Wu - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Negative Space (Paperback)

I had never heard of Israeli-born Noma Bar until I spotted his incredible 3D/2D graphic illustrations (being exhibited at London's KK Outlet) in several creative/design RSS feeds. Most of the imagery was striking in its use of flat color and negative space. Shortly afterwards, I discovered his 2nd book of powerful graphic illustrations simply titled, "Negative Space" which was the 2D version of aforementioned gallery show. The title is plain yet truthful to the incredibly thought-provoking and unapologetic graphic images that take "the world's toughest realities and make them easy to take in." Dark subjects relating to death, war, violence, hate, and pain make up the "negative," while the economical use of "space" throughout the compositions balance various graphic elements. Overall, a very striking and beautiful graphic style collected in a book that is both a definite keeper and a source of inspiration for how to communicate simply and with economy. Can't wait for book #3!