Faith, Intensity and Technology: Bill Viola in London
I’m excited. The Royal Academy of Arts has decided to put on an exhibition combining the work of a contemporary video artist, Bill Viola, and the drawings of the Renaissance master Michelangelo. This is a bold and brave move and I’m thrilled to be one of the first through the doors to see it. As I enter the first darkened gallery, my ears and eyes are quick to adjust and I am aware of a body moving in water on the screen in front of me. I watch mesmerised. It takes me a while to work out that the naked male figure is moving towards me and is about to come out of the water. After a few breaths, he falls back in an eternal loop of surfacing, submerging and resurfacing. In Viola’s own words, ‘a sculptor of time’, here immersive sound and visual footage work together to create a slowed down dramatic event. Entitled The Messenger this piece is a rather nice link to Bridget Riley’s Messengers currently on display at The National Gallery and which I wrote about in my last blog: https://www.londonsartseen.com/blog/2019/1/23/cloud-spotting. Both pieces demonstrate how contemporary artists are able to reflect upon the impact of past artists, making new statements in new media. Perhaps they have become the true messengers. Back to the RA and Viola’s messenger before me refers to rebirth and reincarnation. And, in this womb-like space, the work is profoundly spiritual.
Bill Viola, Nantes Triptych, 1992
Video/sound installation
Courtesy Bill Viola Studio
Photo: Kira Perov
Onto the next room and it’s Viola’s Nantes Tryptich which immediately demands my attention. I am aware that there are Michelangelo drawings behind me and I am interested in how these can be understood in relation to Viola’s videos but I’m torn. I don’t want to miss the moment of birth or death that are literally happening before me. So I chose Viola over Michelangelo - just until I’ve seen the baby being born. Their scale and sound seem to dwarf the Michelangelo’s but, post birth, I take time to learn more about the connection between the two artists. The catalyst for the exhibition was when Martin Clayton, Head of prints and Drawings at Royal Collection Trust, showed Viola Michelangelo's drawings at the Print Room at Windsor Castle in 2006. Rather than claiming that Viola has been directly influenced by Michelangelo, the exhibition aims to examine the affinities between them, their treatment of the large philosophical questions such as the nature of being, the transience of life and the meaning beyond mortality. For me, throughout this exhibition, which incidentally is a journey through mortal life and beyond, it is the Viola’s that call to me every time. I leave feeling intellectually, emotionally and physically drained. My mortal body needs to sit down and process...
Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, c. 1540
Black chalk, 28.1 x 26.8 cm
The British Museum, London. Exchanged with Colnaghi, 1896, 1896,0710.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Fast forward several days and a programme on the BBC is able to enlighten me further on the man who has preoccupied my thoughts since leaving the exhibition. Bill Viola: The Road to St Pauls aired on BBC4 on 4 February 2019 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0c2jw5z/imagine-2019-3-bill-viola-the-road-to-st-pauls). Focusing on his commission for St Paul's Cathedral in London, we follow Viola and his wife, Kira Perov, on their journey. She is an instrumental force and support system for him which he acknowledges throughout the programme; she is also co-curator of the RA show and wrote an essay for the catalogue. They are a partnership. We learn that the death of his mother in 1991 marked a shift in Viola’s work as he started to think of more spiritual themes for his video installations. It is actually her body we see struggling to breath in the right panel of the Nante Triptych. Watching her in a coma over three months was a profound life experience as well as a critical moment for Viola’s artistic career. Her death made him aware that ‘beauty, death, life and art are connected’. He tells us that we are ‘here for the ride, enter stage left, exit stage right’. This is an interesting comment to make when we see the footage of him creating Martyrs and Mary for St Paul’s. Viola is the director and his technical and artistic teams, as well as the performers, his incredible location choices (Salton Sea is simply breathtaking), and stage sets allow something rather magical to happen.
The Dean of St Paul’s acknowledges that the works ask us to stop and engage with them, they command a greater involvement from the viewer (or church goer). This reminds me of my own personal journey at the RA being pulled to his portrayal of the never ending cycle of life, death and rebirth (the title of the RA exhibition), of having to think about my own experience and existence. The BBC programme highlights that Viola is humble, sincere and clearly moved by the power of his own works. He reveals, ‘faith, intensity and technology’ come together to create something far larger than the whole. I completely agree and it’s very exciting that we are able to experience this in both a gallery and a cathedral setting in London at the moment.
Bill Viola, Fire Woman, 2005
Video/sound installation
Performer: Robin Bonaccorsi
Courtesy Bill Viola Studio
Photo: Kira Perov
As well as the death of his mother, his own near death drowning experience as a child is also a driving force for his videos. Viola recalls the light from under the water which just took him, adding that he often returns to this moment. Water is a metaphor for life, for transition between states and for transcendence and features throughout the show. Water is symbolic in terms of birth and resurrection, the beginning and the end and Tristan’s Ascension is a profound and powerful end to a show that started with The Messenger. I’ve come full circle. Viola sees altars as portals. To me, his works are also portals, portals for our own reflection about life and what lies beyond. We have become the congregation at the RA and cannot help but be moved spiritually.
Bill Viola, Tristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall), 2005
Video/sound installation
Performer: John Hay
Courtesy Bill Viola Studio
Photo: Kira Perov
If you can, do go and see:
Bill Viola / Michelangelo: Life, Death, Rebirth at the Royal Academy of Arts:
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/bill-viola-michelangelo (open until 31 March 2019)
Bill Viola’s Martyrs and Mary at St Paul’s:
http://billviolaatstpauls.com/#bill-viola (open daily)