Figure and Ground

"Figure" and "Ground" - and the subsidiary images "Line II" (acrylic, oil and wax on canvas; 60 x 45cm) and "Line III" (acrylic, oil and wax on canvas; 45 x 60cm), both works  wired to be hung in any orientation) - have their origins in collages of letter-forms, with serifs and curlicues and bars and uprights conjoined (or magnified) into a strange industrial skyline, or a shadow-board of unusual tools. With the works' simple two-colour palette, the question is raised whether it's the positive or negative shape that's described - which is the object and which is the background?