Suspension
(Maastricht / Avenue Céramique 40)
Suspension by Nicolas Provost (1969 / Belgium) is similar to the famous physiological Rorschachtest, where the interpretation of mirrored ink stains can provide insight into character traits and impulses. Provosts mirrored ‘stains’ aren’t placid interpretational shapes, as presented by Rorschach to psychiatric patients. They are ever-changing baroque shapes that undergo one metamorphoses after another. The viewer will instinctively always seek recognition in the image. The demons that the viewer sees are too volatile, however; too changeable and also elusive because of their absorption into indefinable dust clouds.
Provost focuses the mind of the viewer. He allows the viewer to recognize things and simultaneously makes them aware that this recognition is false. With this psychological game, the artist makes a direct link to what we see with our eyes and what we make of it with our brain. He leaves us questioning whether what we see is also what we think to see.