Nicolas Provost
Jul ::: offart
By subjecting fragments from the Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon to a mirror effect, Provost creates a hallucinatory scene of a woman's reverse chrysalis into an imploding butterfly. This physical audiovisual experience produces skewed reflections upon Love, its lyrical monstrosities, and a wounded act of disappearance.
"My field of interest is to analyze and question the phenomenon of cinema, its various elements, its influence and conventional rules. My work is a reflection on the grammar of cinema and the relation between visual art and the cinematic experience. That said, it's all about love."
—Nicolas Provost
"My field of interest is to analyze and question the phenomenon of cinema, its various elements, its influence and conventional rules. My work is a reflection on the grammar of cinema and the relation between visual art and the cinematic experience. That said, it's all about love."
—Nicolas Provost
With Papillon d'Amour and Bataille, Nicolas Provost joins the devotees. He makes use of original material with the images mirrored in the longitudinal axis, which yields a sequence of new, associative images. The characters are transformed into new life forms with miraculous capabilities that defy the laws of gravitation. At the same time, Provost keeps the viewer (who is, or is not, familiar with the original film and 'the' story) on a string. The viewer's impulse to interpret the new representation as a story is encouraged by the subtle preservation of residues of Kurosawa's narrative. A powerful, evocative, supporting sound and music track ensures that all this comes across even better. Papillon d'Amour is centred on a female form that performs a ritual, being watched by a male counterpart. Spiralling and screaming, it undergoes a catharsis (or is it self-imposed chastisement?) which culminates in complete disappearance. (Netherlands Media Art Institute, Vinken & van Kampen.)
More Info
Previous page