Bill Viola: The Passions
The National Gallery, London 22 Oct. 2003 – 4 Jan. 2004

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LONDON, Dec 10, 2003/ FW/ --- Bill Viola has drawn inspiration from the Old Masters, etching human expressions in slow motion video with a musical quality that echoes the emotional vocabulary of the collective consciousness of humanity.

Bill Viola: The Passions (2000-2002), presented at the J. Paul Getty Museum, brings the sophistication of video art to a new level.

It is the birth of a new video vision, a translation for the MTV generation and others to better understand and identify with the master’s paintings that many would be intimidated by or feel were too removed from their worlds.

Viola asked a team of actors to draw from their inner souls the deepest emotions for his camera; it is as if they are in another dimension, another reality.

Originally filmed in 35mm at high speed, the images were transferred and edited in high definition video, using projection formats of various sizes.

As a result Viola captured emotions in motion in a form of video portraiture with a sculptural quality.

This achievement is an evolution from video art’s inception in the early 1970’s when Viola first forged ahead in this new territory.

He has worked with international compatriots such as pioneer Nam Jun Paik, known as the father of video.

Jun Paik was a visiting professor at University of California Los Angeles in the late 70s when as a student I spent late evenings in the studio creating my first video art pieces on reel to reel, black and white video machines.

Jun Paik encouraged assignments designed to stretch the meaning of time and space.

Viola carries on this exploration. Since the 1980’s his museum installations have turned galleries into media environments using video, sound and sometimes physical objects.

Born in New York he was attracted to California in 1981 because of the prominence given to video art at Long Beach Museum of Art.

Viola’s collaborator and executive producer is his wife Kira Perov, arts administrator and talented photographer.

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