ART CITIES:N.York-Bill Viola
Regarded as a seminal figure in the development of video art, Bill Viola combines state-of-the-art technology with universal humanistic themes. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences. These themes continue in Viola’s “Inverted Birth”, which explores the life cycle as a continuum rather than a linear progression.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: James Cohan Gallery Archive
Bill Viola’s videos often feature birth, death, and spiritual awakenings, all of which have been art-historical staples for Centuries. Since the ‘70s, Viola’s videos have been challenging because they ask viewers to become so emotionally wrapped up in it all, given contemporary art’s coldness, that’s something of a feat. In his new exhibition “Inverted Birth” at James Cohan Gallery, Bill Viola shows 6 major works created between 2012 and 2014: “Ancestors” (2012), “Inverted Birth” (2014), and four videos from the “Martyrs” series (2014), based on a long-term installation in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, each video centers on a natural element. In the main gallery, Viola’s monumental video and audio installation “Inverted Birth”, depicts five stages of awakening through a series of violent transformations. The work begins with a man standing in darkness, coated in black fluid. Gradually, the fluid begins to flow in reverse and rises upward with increasing velocity. The fluids change from black to red to white, ultimately becoming clear like water. A soft mist covers the man for the final stage of awakening. The essential elements of human life: earth, blood, milk, water and air, and the passage from birth to death, here are inverted when darkness is transformed into light. In “Ancestors”, a mother and son make a journey on foot across the desert in the heat of summer. In the course of traversing this inhospitable landscape, a new consciousness unfolds when they become swallowed by a dust storm and emerge finding solace in one another. In Gallery 3, the four pieces from the “Martyrs” series “Earth Martyr”, “Air Martyr”, “Fire Martyr”, and “Water Martyr” are installed. Each work is shown on a vertical LCD screen, and installed one on each of the four walls, creating an immersive environment in the gallery’s last room. Four figures are silently and gradually overcome by the four elements of nature. As Viola describes: “Flames rain down, winds begin to lash, water cascades, and earth flies up. As the elements rage, each martyr’s resolve remains unchanged. In their most violent assault, the elements represent the darkest hour of the martyr’s passage through death into the light”. His martyrs do not scream or bleed or even pray. They silently endure their strange fates. The stress is not on numbing details of torture – the man engulfed by fire is not singed. It is on the mystery of human courage that can endure the impossible. Is such strength god-given? Where then does it come from? Viola gets to the core of what martyrdom means. Through video art, he reframes the philosophical questions it has raised ever since Socrates refused to escape his unjust execution in ancient Athens.
Info: James Cohan Gallery, 533 West 26 Street, New York, Duration: 10/12/15-30/1/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.jamescohan.com
