Until the next one June 26 Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome presents “Icons of Light “ the personal exhibition of one of the world geniuses of video art of our century, the American Bill Violain an exhibition that starts from the 70s to the present day.
Nature, man, video experimentation, spirituality, intimate reflection, but above all the contrast between life and death are the characteristics of the 15 works presented in the exhibition.
The baroque halls of Palazzo Bonaparte seem to dialogue perfectly with the artist’s works, almost as if they were spectators in silent admiration of the creations of the famous video artist.
Palazzo Bonaparte as an unconventional place for a contemporary art exhibition of such great visual impact, which captures the spectators, indeed literally kidnaps them, in an intimate, sometimes mystical vision of the most ancestral human emotions, always poised between the sacred and the profane. between classic and technological, between light and shadow, between life and death.
Wide spaces, semi-darkness as if to give each individual spectator an intimate moment of recollection, meditation, in front of images that are sometimes slow, cadenced, sometimes faster and more immediate, in a total immersion in the art of Bill Viola.
A journey in interconnection with images and with our deepest self which, yes, often disturbs, anguishes and leaves with contrasting emotions but which has always been the strength of this extraordinary artist who, for better or for worse, manages to give strong emotions to any type of spectator.
It starts with a work from 1974, “The Reflecting Pool”, where man, nature and water have an almost dreamlike dialogue, in a metaphor of birth and creation.
And it is precisely water one of the most used elements in Viola’s works, water as an immersion, as a passage, as a change of human and spiritual state. Water is the leitmotif of the ultra-famous and almost hypnotic “Ascension”, a real thrill, of the “Three Women” and of the splendid series of “Water Portraits”.
Nature, the forest are dominant in “Study for The Path”, where people continuously cross it from left to right. Pain, the study of loss, on the other hand, is the common thread of a touching Observance, which is part of the “Passions” series, as well as Unspoken (Silver & Gold), where emotions are slowed down in an extreme and obsessive way, such as to want to exorcise the time that passes.
Instead, it recalls a film set “The Greeting”, from 1995, inspired by the Visitation of Pontormo (1528-9), where two women talking dressed in 16th century clothes are interrupted by a third woman who enters the scene embracing and greeting, as if it were a real movie.
The rarefaction of time is also one of the characteristics of Bill Viola’s work, a 45-second action can reach 10 minutes or even the total 45 minutes of one of the works on display.
But it is the series “Martyrs” (2014) which, for me, turns out to be the most fascinating where the human being is immobilized and at the mercy of natural elements (water, fire, earth, air), to the point of being dominated and dominated by them, in a total and overwhelming acceptance of death. Martyr in Greek means witness and this is what the video artist wanted to represent: action, courage, perseverance, resistance and sacrifice, in a final transit between life and death.
Bill Viola, born in 1951, was the forerunner of the use of video in contemporary art and for over 40 years his works have contrasted and questioned birth, life, death, in an always experimental research, which led to travel all over the world with Kira Perov, with whom he lives in Long Beach, California.
The latter wife of the artist and executive director of the Bill Viola Studio, curated the exhibition together with the production and organization of Arthemisia, the sponsor Generali Valore Cultura, recommended by Sky Arte, with a catalog published by Skira and includes an essay by by Valentino Catricalà.
An exhibition not to be missed, which deserves a careful visit in the unique and unmistakable universe of Bill Viola’s video art.
Article by Stefania Vaghi
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Icons of Light by Bill Viola: video art at Palazzo Bonaparte