How does Bill
Viola explore the human condition, and how then does this relate to and
inspire/influence my practice.
Much of Bill Viola’s work
seeks to explore the human condition, day to day life, spirituality, the mind
and existential concerns such as time and our presence within it. Often in
Violas work this is measured by birth, death and everything in between. Through presentation, the spatial
construction of a piece, metaphorical and signifying video or his use and
exploration of time, Viola creates art that, in a sense elevates the viewer to
a place of contemplation. His work embodies a transcendence, which stems from a
curiosity in spirituality and arises in the eye of the viewer, through a
subliminal and evocative creative practice. He has been seen to achieve this
using a crescendo of sound accompanied with various or progressive intensities
of light or events, sometimes followed by the sudden onset of emptiness or
silence, a void of some kind. The effects of which are permeating. His work
encroaches upon the viewer’s senses and has the ability to almost startle one
into a deeper sense of awareness, of both the art, and the self.
It is from within
this contemplative state with our heightened awareness, that we are given space
to engage with and interpret the subject itself and our very perception of it.
Time is
especially important in Viola’s work. This is made obvious, firstly in his
deliberate choice to use video as apposed to film. Its continuous materiality
and the way in which it records real time rather than multiple stills, reflects
the way in which life flows seamlessly and continuously. We become conscious of
time when something deliberately engages us with it and asks us to wait and
watch. It is unlike other art in the way the viewer sees it. Usually an
audience would move around a gallery, pausing for only a moment to view a
painting or other static piece. By watching a video, viewers are made to
experience the piece as it unfolds in a way that is tangible and measurable in
comparison to their perception of real time. In some of his work the content
and time is slowed down considerably, other events paused entirely, which
exaggerates and defines the importance of a given object or occurrence to the
point it becomes unsettling and can even distort our understanding of what
would ordinarily be something familiar. I believe this is often the point. It
makes us see things differently, interpreting them in a new way, allowing for
new realities or views of the norm. The work becomes about perception and
perspectives, and about the viewer’s encounter. My interpretation of Viola’s
work is that, for him it is important to see the common place, the day to day, or
every day and the things taken for granted, or expected perhaps, as sublime. He
elevates his content to a higher degree of spiritual and moral excellence where
it becomes a catalyst for new ways of looking.
Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) 2014, © Bill Viola St Pauls Cathedral
Violas approach, using
contemporary medium and a unique approach to use of a space has created
metaphorical and signifying work that has challenged the ideas of those who
believed the notion of the sublime had been essentially materialised in works
such as “white on white” by abstract expressionist Malevich.
White on white, 1918 © Kazimir Malevich
This piece has been regarded as the apotheosis of total and complete
emptiness, conveying infinite space and therefore the sublime.
Malevichs theory of art was self titled Suprematism, in order to,
“signify “the supremacy of pure
feeling or perception in the pictorial arts” further to this, pure perception
demanded that a pictures forms “have nothing in common with nature” Malevich
imagined suprematism as a universal language that would free viewers from the
material world.”
(The museum of
modern art, MOMA highlights)
Where Malevich’s approach to
art and spiritual purity lies in showing us a non-figurative, abstract,
meditative blankness (that evokes essentially a sense of clarity and emptiness)
Viola’s work creates relatable pieces where we see new visions of a common
reality. This leads us to reconsider what we see and expect of the norm.
Despite Malevich’s achievement in showing us a vastness achieved otherwise
through only high levels of spiritual enlightenment, and a sense of escapism,
for me Violas approach is more successful through its provocative use of time
and the way in which an audience can empathize with, and understand what is
being shown through uncanny emotional and visual cues. I do not believe that a person can connect
with a feeling or illusion of nothingness as we do not experience it without
deliberate practice of meditation or encounters with death. Viola does however
begin to show us a notion of emptiness in his voids.
In His piece entitled Nantes
triptych we see three videos displayed as an installation concerning life and
death.
Nantes Triptych, 1992 © Bill Viola
In video one we are shown one
of his friends in labour. This is both in content and in presentation an
exploration of birth and a beginning. The woman is fully exposed throughout the
majority of the video, which I find somewhat invasive. Despite the natural
process of birth, it is something that we would usually regard as private so I am
made to feel unsettled watching it somehow. Labour though, is physically painful
and uncomfortable, therefore I believe my reaction was expected and intended, a
deliberate reflection of the video.
After birth, we see the child,
which is essentially more calming and allows us to appreciate the stillness.
The child provokes a feeling of warmth, and thoughts of potential.
Viola juxtaposes this with a
deeply intimate third video showing the death of his own mother. In the
documentary “The eye of the heart” Viola discusses his filming of her final
moments and the impact his loss had on both his personal and creative life.
“The Passion series was me coming
to grips with the loss of my parents and being awakened as to
what death really means. And therefore what existence really means. It's
not a game, it's the deepest thing possible for a human being to
conquer and try and understand, and I wanted to deal with that."
(The eye of the
heart, 2003)
The asymmetrical aesthetics
seen in this piece act as reciprocal metaphors, which are validated, enhanced
and exaggerated through the central video where we see a nude man suspended
weightlessly under dark water. We can see from the surrounding bubbles and the
movements of the body that the man has somewhat recently entered the water,
there is however the feeling that he has drown. This central video seems to
juggle the themes seen in the first and last: Birth, where energy is harvested
and there is potential for change and new realities, and death, where the
inevitable end consumes us. I perceive this central video to represent
suspension in time between a beginning and end, an area of mold-able, usable
space. Calm, yet somewhat ominous. The floating body also resembles a fetus in
the womb.
The camera itself embodies the
eye looking in on all these private moments. The angle and focus can be
invasive and claustrophobic at times, traits that I also connect with the
concept of drowning.
It does not strike me as odd
therefore, that Viola uses water so frequently in his work, because although to
drown can be a daunting prospect and something to be feared, there is metaphor
here: for example, are we not frequently drowned by responsibilities, do we not
feel depressed and asphyxiated at times because of the monotony and pressure of
daily living? These sensations are surely felt physically in water and
drowning. Yet there is a sanctuary and freedom felt in water like nowhere else.
Suspended forms underwater also suggest a crossed threshold that provokes reflection
of spiritual ideals and submergence. Viola had a near death experience at the
age of 6, when he drowned in a lake whilst on vacation with family. The event
seems to have resonated with him since. In “The eye of the heart” he describes
the experience as,
”the most beautiful world I’ve
ever seen in my life” , “without fear,” and “peaceful”
(The eye of the
heart, 2003)
The way in which Viola only
fully exposes one person or subject at a time interests me, it is suggestive of
the notion that we enter the world alone, and leave it in the same fashion.
Seeing single figures reminds us that we all lead a self-absorbed existence. By
nature we can only see from our own eyes, only physically feel through our own
senses, and however compassionate we are, or empathetically we feel, we cannot
live through another.
Nantes triptych shows multiple
perspectives that allow an audience to engage with events that are fundamental
to the human condition, opening our minds to the inevitable things that we all
experience. Yet the content is not our own. This is the oscillating gaze, a
concept I have considered in my own work.
Tiny little deaths, 1993 © Bill Viola
Created in 1993, Viola’s piece
“Tiny Little Deaths” was displayed at Tate Modern this year (2014).
The audience is invited into a
dark space where barely visible figures are projected onto the walls in waves.
This is accompanied by increasing intensities of both sound and light, which
together create a building drama that is suddenly halted, creating a sense of
loss and stillness. The piece envelops the senses as well as the physical body
and asks us to engage with the appearance and disappearance of form. The work
made me consider sudden and unexpected ends to life. I engaged with the theme
of “Tiny little deaths” substantially more than much art I have encountered
before. The piece conjured thoughts of the life we take for granted until it is
cut out before we expect. Again this is something that I explore in my own
practice.
Negatives I found with regard
to this piece included the sound quality.
It would have had a more
resonating impact if the space was darker and the sound heavier, or deeper,
possibly more cinematic, or surrounding. Perhaps this way, the body would have
felt the sound, rather than only the ears perceiving it. In this gallery space the work felt cold
(which may have been intended) and the sound was tinny. These factors reminded
me that I was in a gallery and prevented me from fully engaging with the work.
I wanted to feel as though I myself was in this black space with the figures. I
wanted to feel more a part of it, as though consumed, but I could not. There
was a haunting presence and an obvious spiritual message, which allowed for an
uncanny and chilling connection to the work. However a deeper understanding of
that spirituality was interrupted by the presence of multiple viewers in the
space. I would have preferred to be alone to experience what could have been a
more ethereal piece. This again pays attribute to the way we feel as singular
beings.
After considering these
elements, I have been able to apply new ideas and theory to my own practice.
What seems to be an increasing loss of spiritual
and theological thinking both in modern society and in modernist art worries me
as my own interest in it only grows with age and through experiencing loss more
frequently.
Viola gives me a comparable resource by which my
ability to gauge the success of my own work in terms of execution grows, and
becomes more educated. However, although we explore similar themes, my own work
is more about the way in which I personally struggle to deal with daily
repetitive activities, and the expectations that come along with growing older
in this generation. For example, we are all taught to go to school, get a job,
get a mortgage and as a woman, perhaps get married and have children. Yet, this
creates in essence, a tunnel vision. Moments where we contemplate the “now” are
seemingly rare, and take up very little of our day. A concern for me is that
before we know it, we will be on our deathbeds wondering where the time went.
Violas work, more significantly, “Tiny little
deaths” deepens my insecurities around this matter. If we are so transfixed on
what is to come, and there is no living in the now. What happens when life is
suddenly taken, or the void occurs? The time spent building to a future self,
was wasted in an unawareness of the present.
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