Artist Presentation Essay: Bill Viola

Tatyana Mann 

November 15, 2013 

Su Ye 

Bill Viola: AN ARTIST PRESENTATION 

William "Bill" Viola is an internationally known artist, specializing in Video, Sound and Electronic Art in a field identified as New Media Art. He has been titled as a leading figure in his generation of artists within his field, most notably as one of the best-known video artists today. Viola was born in Queens, New York, January 25th, 1951. At the age of nine, in 1960, Bill Viola was given the captaincy for his school TV Squad, and so began a beautiful relationship. For 18 months, during the early 1970s, Viola went on as technical director of production of Art/Tapes/22 in Florence, Italy [Art/Tapes/22 was one of the first video art studios in Europe]. In 1973, he graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Syracuse University, where he studied Experimental Studios of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, while also participating in the University's then-exploratory "New Media" Program, a main focus of his art today. Post graduation, Viola went on to become a video technician at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. In 1977, Bill Viola was invited by cultural arts director Kira Perov to showcase his videotapes at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. One year later, Perov joined Viola in New York; the two later married in 1980 and began what is now a 30+ /lifelong collaboration. In 1993, Viola moved to California and became an Advanced Video instructor at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1995, Viola represented the United States in the 46th Venice Biennale, where he displayed a series of works, Buried Secrets, with one of his most famous works, The Greeting, a modern interpretation of Pontormo's "The Visitation." Most recently, Bill Viola was awarded the 2009 Catalonia International Prize, XXI Premi Internacional Catalunya 2009, in Barcelona Spain. The award commends an individual "whose creative work has made a significant contribution to the development of cultural, scientific or human values anywhere in the world." For the last 40 years, Bill Viola has created videotapes, architectural installations, sound environments, and performances. He and his wife Kira live and work in Long Beach, California.     

Bill Viola's imagery and works are strongly rooted in contemporary life. However, with that being said, he also incorporates much of aged religious philosophy and iconography. He works largely in the aesthetic of the human consciousness and experience. Such examples are that of love, death, birth, and humanist spirituality. Throughout most of his career he has drawn inspiration from Buddhism, Mysticism and Sufism, evident through the transcendental quality of his work and pieces, where most are of individuals battling with nature. I believe much of Viola's fixation has to deal with his close encounter with drowning in a lake on a family vacation; he described the event as “… the most beautiful world I’ve ever seen in my life” and “without fear,” and “peaceful.” Some of his most notable works are those that showcase Viola's two-step process of production, of a  visual and conceptual duo: 

1. "The Space Between the Teeth"[1976] 

2. "The Veiling" [1995] 

3. "The Crossing" [1996] 

4. "The Quintet Series" [2000] 

5. "Silent Mountain" [2001] 

6. "Observance" [2002] 

7. "Ocean Without a Shore" [2007] 

8. "The Bodies of Light" [2009] 

Viola's work constantly incorporates a "slow motion" technique, that adds a painterly touch. It is utilized to force viewers to delve deeper into the works' meanings. An ongoing theme throughout his work is that of dualism; a concept in which one is to understand one aspect of the piece only when he/she comprehends its opposite.