Nicolas Thiant
The use of geometrical shapes is a recurrent pattern in my paintings,
but what I present here is more conceptual.
This work presenting itself as a puzzle is not a representation of
mathematical objects but rather an attempt to depict the very essence
of mathematics. More precisely, it was conceived as an allegory of a
philosophical conception of mathematics which is mathematical
Platonism, according to which there are abstract mathematical objects
whose existence is independent of us and of our language, thought and
practices. Mathematical truths are therefore not invented but
discovered by mathematicians. Solving this puzzle is then akin to
mathematical research and, by creating such artworks, the artist turns
himself into a demiurge.
This artwork is a three-level Sudoku puzzle (letters, cell colours and letter colours). Solving it reveals the word PLATONISM. The chosen colours are the vertices of a regular-faced polyhedron in the RGB colour space. As for the font, it was originally designed by Bauhaus artist Josef Albers. Note that the idea of a three-level Sudoku with colours seems to be original.