Pipilotti Rist, “Sexy Sad I”, Still 2

In Sexy Sad I (1987), one of Rist’s earliest works, the artist makes ample use of “color smearing,” the phenomenon that becomes manifest after an editing cut when a disturbance in the image moves slowly over the screen until the next image appears. Here a blurred jumble of nude human limbs dominate the lefthand side of the screen, while the right hand side shows a circular smear of brown fallen leaves. The perspective of the camera is taken from above, looking down at the ground.