Noma Bar: Negative Space

The use of negative space within the work of Noma Bar is exceptional.  Some of his illustrations are composed by the use of a single image or by utilising a variety of elements that all carry the same theme.  This in turn gives the shape to the final piece.  Contained within his book Negative Space, Noma Bar has taken on more serious topics and challenged the thinking behind them e.g. global warming, race relations and national identity. 

When Bar was asked about his work he declared it to be a type of “pain relief”.  He said it acted as a shock absorber against the subject that was portrayed within any particular article. 

I have posted some examples that caught my eye from the book

The Big Squeeze: piece for an article on the oil gains to be made from Iraq 

Gun Crime illustration

Beware The Wolves: an innocent Red Riding Hood is trapped by a wolf, for an article on older men with younger women

This is The End illustration

Study the image above and see if you can identify the hands.  Initially I couldn’t see them but when you do discover them it makes the piece even more amazing.

I particularly like the simplicity of all the images and the way they have been produced is in my opinion a sign of brilliance.

HP invent

Here is a short film which successfully demonstrates the work of Hewlett Packard.  His inspired ability has no boundaries.  It has been directed and edited by Matt Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth.  Click here to view the film.

Have you seen the film of the book?

I discovered these films on the Creative Review blog and thought that it may be a really good idea to build films which would give you a glimpse into some new illustration books. 

The Tate has created films that demonstrate two art books that have not yet been released.  They are Peter Blake’s ABC and Black Spots which is a pop-up book by David Carter.  Within the extracts the contents of the books are revealed.  This appears to be Tate endeavouring to keep in line with up-and-coming developments within the video market.  

You can click here and take a tour of Black Spots for yourself

…and here you can view Peter Blake’s ABC