Known as the “Rembrandt of video art”, the North American artist Bill Viola is a pioneer of this artistic movement. Since the 1970s he has created pieces, installations, and other works that reflect his deep connection to art history, spirituality, and perception.
“I have never thought of video in terms of images, but as an electronic process, as a signal,” said the artist, who, through the exploration of audiovisual techniques and the use of new technologies, has earned international recognition for the novelty of its experimentation processes and its conceptual depth.
The video allowed him to introduce a key element in his work: time. In this way, his pieces manipulate time as one more element of his aesthetic, constructing narratives without words, small or long, that capture the attention of the spectators; along with the image, the sound has also been a fundamental constant in her artistic production.
From his experimental beginnings, the artist discovered the possibilities of the electronic image and the manipulation of time, which later allowed him to create large productions with actors and incredible camera effects, managing to connect with the emotional world of the spectators who see his works. which focus on universal human experiences and have their roots in both Eastern and Western art, as well as spiritual traditions.
Due to its pictorial character, on many occasions his works are referred to as “animated paintings”, this is also because Viola has started from the study of the work of medieval artists, as well as works of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, by authors such as Dürer, Caravaggio or Vermeer.
His work has been exhibited in museums, cultural institutions, religious spaces and historical monuments. Likewise, his videos, installations, theories and theses on art have become references in the contemporary art scene.
The first individual exhibition of the artist in our country is held at the Ex Teresa Arte Actual, a museum institution located in a church founded in the 17th century and preserved to the present day. Bill Viola. Suspended time will remain until August 28, the exhibition is made up of a selection of eight video installations that seek to create an immersive experience in dialogue with the architectural space.
The artist faced, and continues to face, the task of reflecting through art the complexity of human emotions such as sadness, anger, pain or joy. With a marked introspective atmosphere, the exhibition is a unique opportunity to get to know the work of this American artist and to be moved by his images since, as he himself says: “We must recover time for ourselves and let our consciences breathe and our crowded minds are still and silent. This is what art can do and what museums can be in our world today.”
BY BERNARDO NOVAL
CEO MUST WANTED GROUP
@BERNIENEVAL AND @MUSTWANTEDG
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