Composition in Color is a video installation by the artist duo Pépé Smit and Harm van den Berg. Two young girls are seen applying make up to their faces in front of a mirror, the action is shown in slow motion. The first girl is six years old, her gestures are still a bit clumsy and awkward, but she is serious and concentrated. The other girl is aged sixteen; with an eyeliner pencil she expertly draws a razor-sharp black line above her eyelashes.
The girls were filmed through the mirror using a shallow focus, so that the viewer sees them close-up lending a feeling of intimacy. The slow motion images and the music of Vincent van Warmerdam, transform a commonplace action into a concentrated, almost hypnotic, ritual.
