American video artist Bill Viola captures what it is to be human in all its raw beauty. Birth, death, mortality, love, suffering, despair are all there in stark moving imagery that is entirely relatable (normal looking actors in normal looking clothes), and yet otherworldly, spooky, eerie and totally mesmerising. No wonder the 63-year old Californian is considered one of the top if not the top video artist today. The Grand Palais is honouring him with his largest retrospective ever, ending July 21st. Don’t miss it.
Visitors move through the various rooms of the Grand Palais silently- like the videos themselves- as if they were at Church. Viola’s work captivates and moves, without being preachy. Especially noteworthy is “Going Forth By Day” 2002 where a large room is taken up by five seemingly unrelated super-sized video stories, using a cast of about 100 people. Best to get comfy on the floor, relax and watch the scenes unfold. Viola’s work requires the viewer’s time. Below an image from “First Light.”
Below, is an image from another room, the artist’s 2013 “Dreamers.”
I loved the Paris show so much that as soon as I got back to London, I took the tube to St Paul’s Cathedral to see Viola’s latest work. After a decade of thought, Viola has made a four-screen video installation for St Paul’s Cathedral entitled “Martyrs” to be accompanied by “Mary” next year. This must-see seven minute video marks the first time a moving image will feature prominently in a famous Christian cathedral. Viola’s contemplative works look right at home here.
The various martyrs- three men and a woman – are tested by violent earth, lashing winds, scorching fire and pummelling water. They never relent, even when it looks really tortuous (those poor actors). Viola has said that he likes to think of his work as spiritual rather than religious.
To coincide with Martyr’s, Tate Modern across the Millennium Bridge is doing a special display of Viola’s “Tiny Deaths” 1993.
June, 2014
