“Fundamentally wrong, but also perfectly right”: Jonas Sprattland’s videos for Nike and Balenciaga play with space, motion and form

Jonas Sprattland once heard his work being described as “fundamentally wrong, but also perfectly right”. The Berlin-based artist blends videography with custom digital tools to play with space, motion and form, achieving a distinct effect – almost like molten pixels. “I love the idea of treating video footage like a physical material, like clay or paint. I’m always trying to create images that contain a strong sense of texture and physicality, like they resemble a version of reality that was turned inside out,” Jonas tells It’s Nice That.

While his work is created in the digital realm, Sprattland is most inspired by “analog art forms” like painting or sculpture. And rather than using AI, Sprattland constructs custom digital tools using code, as well as DIY programming and intricate camera setups to “force” the technology into creating the images he wants. Originally a photographer, he sees the code mainly as “an extension of the camera lens”.

Alongside personal work, the artist mainly works with fashion brands, like Balenciaga, Adidas, and Nike, with commissions ranging from shooting runway shows to a full campaign. “I love playing with ways of showing humans in physical spaces,” he says. “We all have a strong intuition for the human scale and the three-dimensional space we occupy – a very exciting departure point. Sometimes you only need to tweak a single factor to make an ordinary scene feel extraordinary.”