Discovering the artist Bill Viola

As a high school student you are plunged into many dynamics that introduce a form of transformation. Such dynamics as discovering who you are and the way you see the world. You discover that the lens that you view the world through is not like everyone else. You discover that school has some dynamics you love and hate at the same time, or that you love or hate all of it. Learning how to express yourself is an important dynamic in art.

In the late 1970’s video art became very popular. The first portable video camera came out called the port-a-pac. It was a black and white, reel to reel video camera. Artists discovered it as a new medium to express themselves with. Video art was born. One of the greatest video artists is Bill Viola. By discovering who he is and what his work represents, perhaps you can expand your thoughts on seeing through another persons eyes, creativity and ways they express themselves.

The artist Bill Viola produced several early works using only water as a medium with videotaping. The symbol of water is universal. It is life itself. Just like the earth, you body is made up of 75% water. The following introspection into Bill Viola is well worth the reading and study. Allow your perceptions of art to be expanded beyond any boundaries you may have established.

Bill Viola (New York, 1951) is internationally recognised as one of the leading artists of our times and one of the great pioneers of video art. With an artistic career spanning more than four decades, his work is replete with symbolic elements, references to spirituality and the world of art, focusing on universal questions such as birth, death and the passing of time.

His art reveals a path to the senses by articulating feelings and evoking emotional states. In his wordless creations, images are felt and listened to, stirring deep-lying emotions. Slow motion and video loops submerge the viewer in Viola’s inner world, deepening their fundamental experience of existence and “awakening the soul”. His works, which always have an extraordinary beauty and intensity, are uniquely moving.

Viola's art deals largely with the central themes of human consciousness and experience - birth, death, love, emotion, and a kind of humanist spirituality. Throughout his career he has drawn meaning and inspiration from his deep interest in mystical traditions, especially Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism and Islamic Sufism, often evident in the transcendental quality of some of his works. 

An ongoing theme that he constantly explores is dualism, or the idea that comprehension of a subject is impossible unless its opposite is known. For example, a lot of his work has themes such as life and death, light and dark, stressed and calm, or loud and quiet.

Viola’s work is characterised by its symbolism and references which are continuously repeated to express universal concepts such as life and death, spirituality, the passing of time, space and loneliness, with the artist evolving alongside them..

Water is another element to which Viola repeatedly returns to symbolise purity, serenity, calm, redemption and peace. ‘Ablutions’ (2015) shows a slow-motion close-up of a man and a woman washing their hands in a purifying act, while ‘Self Portrait, Submerged’ (2013) depicts the artist lying in a stream with his eyes closed, in which water represents an essential element of life, change and the passing of time in its continuous ebb and flow, expressing the future, birth and reflection.

Your assignment in class:

Viola’s art expresses universal concepts such as life and death, spirituality, the passing of time, space and loneliness, he presents opposites coming together in a form of ambiguity. In your sketchbooks produce one detailed drawing that also expresses such universal concepts. Show the details of your work without erasing what could be perceived as mistakes. Look up surrealistic images such as the work of Salvadore Dali. Google universal concepts on your computer and see what you can find. This should done on one or more pages in your sketch book. Label the page at the top Homage to Bill Viola.

Choose between the following two homework assignments:

Homework assignment #1:

Make a video related to water. Use the slow motion tool on your cell phone video. Turn the image into black and white sign the color tool.

Suggestion 1, videotape the fountain in Forsyth Park showing a close up of different parts of the fountain in slow motion. Suggestion 2, video tape a stream in slow motion showing movement of the water as you pan the water close up. Turn the video to black and white. Suggestion 3, make a close up of waves breaking at the beach in slow motion and show the surge as it changes upon the sand. Turn it to black and white as well.

Homework Assignment #2:

This assignment is not mandatory due to the risk of using your cell phone. You must be careful in the process of this lesson with the use of your cell phone, therefore your teacher does is not liable for any damage to your device.

Creating a Water Mask

Bill Viola used water to transform figures. In this lesson you are to transform your face by creating a water mask. The procedure is very easy. You will need a deep glass dish that is usually used for casserole dishes, water, and your cell phone.

Step one: Fill a glass casserole dish up to almost full. You will be putting your face in the water so you do not want water to run over the dish.

Step two: Put your cell phone on a ten second timer for the camera, make sure the flash is off.

Step three: Place your cell phone on a table, tap the exposure button on the camera then gently place the casserole dish on top of the camera (DO NOT PUT YOUR CELL PHONE IN THE WATER!!)

Step four: Put your face in the dish, open your eyes and blow out bubbles until the camera makes your photo.

Step five: Using the edit tools on your camera, turn the saturation level to the left to turn your image into a black and white image.

Step six: Send your photo to ihs.db@yahoo.com

Above Left: Place your cell phone camera on a table with the casserole dish of water on top of the phone. Do not put your phone in the water!!

Above right: An example of a water mask.