The difference between Art and Design is that Art has more freedom and has no rules set before it while for a design to be good it must follow certain rules to be successful. 

ART: http://fabskill.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Salt-london1_2486196a-large.jpg

Design: https://c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/1280/poster/2014/10/3036888-poster-p-1-fahrenheit-212s-mark-payne-on-the-trouble-with-design-thinking.png

https://www.scad.edu/academics/programs/graphic-design/student-work

Although this page has artwork by multiple people, the one piece that stood out to me is the Academic calendar by Jessica Leavitt.  The use of lines , negative and positive space, and colors were captivating at first glance. Another thing that I loved about this work was the way it spelled out the name of the school with the usage of multiple lines with color representing the school.

In a sense yes you can because figure ground has negative and positive space, if you take a musical note and the space between the note and put a frame over it that could be considered figure ground. http://images.clipartpanda.com/music-notes-border-clipart-eiMKrAdin.jpeg