Der Verdacht 2016

Curator: Rolf Ohst created "Der Verdacht"—"The Suspicion"—in 2016. Ohst works primarily with oil paint, often exploring themes of figuration in his contemporary works. Editor: Wow. Well, it hits you, doesn’t it? Stark figures, looming. The somber palette kind of reinforces the gravity of whatever unspoken tension hangs between them. A suspicion, indeed, like the painting's title suggests. Curator: Indeed. The title, I think, points us to read these two nude, bald figures and the ominous presence of the birds as emblems of contemporary anxieties surrounding surveillance, maybe also paranoia in the digital age. Note how their inward gazes accentuate this sense of inward-spiraling fear, this quiet introspection despite the presence of another. Editor: Yes, their eyes are both directed down and in, perhaps to that knot of birds at their feet? Almost like shame made manifest. You said surveillance...I wonder, are we, as the viewers, the surveillance in this case? Or maybe they suspect each other? It reminds me of some of Samuel Beckett’s plays, this tension. Curator: That's a potent point—Beckett is apt here. In terms of art history, the nude male figures could be seen through the lens of power dynamics. They aren't glorified or eroticized; there's an unidealized rawness to their form. What are they suspecting about themselves or, perhaps more tellingly, of their role? It demands this further reading of power and body politics that reverberates through culture. Editor: I keep thinking about that little murder of crows gathered there; are they weighing something, judging these two silent actors? Almost like their dark familiars, bits of their hidden inner selves, coming to roost. There is an undeniable feeling of dread present. Curator: Absolutely. It’s like the artist uses realism here but to arrive somewhere deeply surreal, philosophical even, as the very term “suspicion” is dissected and explored across these symbolic, corporeal, and ornithological forms. Editor: Thinking of my initial reaction... the work certainly burrows its way into your thoughts and feelings in ways I didn't anticipate. There's almost a physicality to how the ideas in the artwork manifest in one’s mind. Curator: Precisely. By looking at it closely and by allowing space to discuss these themes, we may better recognize our own vulnerabilities—we ourselves become “suspects”, perhaps.