In an era of heightened digitalization, the classical ideas and ideals of »painting« continue to permeate beyond the constraints of physical material. In sfumato the »final result« of a painting process never manifests; everything stays in motion and reiterates in an universal fear of commitment, which is ultimately the painting.

The title sfumato refers to one of the four canonical modes of painting in »Renaissance art«, a technique that emphasizes soft transitions between colors and tones. Taking up this concept of blurring clear lines and borders, the spectral »all-over« composition offers a myriad of subtle gradations and erratic shifts of focal planes.

The work unleashes a moment of pure abstraction, expanding on ideas of painting into asymmetrical orchestrations of video painting sequences.

sfumato
Experimental Film: D/US 2020, 3:15min
Artwork + Music: Robert Seidel

Media Façade Artwork: Denver Digerati, Supernova, September 22, 2018

Multi-channel Video Installation: Kunsthaus Erfurt, Part of the exhibition »IOR – Index of Refraction«, November 23, 2018 – January 25, 2019

Video + Sound: Robert Seidel
Oboe: Katharina Wichate
Cello: Miriam Schwesig
Insects Sounds: David Kamp
Pipe Organ: Daniel Richter
Guitar: Sebastian Schwartze
Harpsichord: Arpen
Soundmix: Michal Krajczok
Support: Ivar Zeile, Monique Förster, Miriam Eichner, Falk Müller, Markus Heckmann, My Family ♥
Funding Film Version: Thuringian State Chancellery