Bill Viola graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelors in Fine Art. He then went on to work as a technical director in Italy before travelling across the Solomon Islands, Java, Bali and Japan to study and record traditional performing arts. In 1977 cultural arts director Kira Perov invited Viola to show his videotapes at La Trope University; a year later the pair married and began working and travelling together.
Bill Viola is internationally recognised as one of the leading artist in time based media, his work explores the phenomenon of sense perception and focuses on universal human experiences such as: Birth , Death and aspects of conciousness. Viola uses videotapes and architectural video installations to create a total environment of video and sound that immerses the viewer in image and sound.
In my opinion, Violas video work seems extremely simple but by seeming simple it allows the viewer to pay more attention to what is happening and to think "Why?", this way it truly allows the viewer to think about the story and the embedded meaning by themselves without his work blatantly stating the reasoning. Its beautifully minimalistic: one person, the four elements and a silent story.
Below is a link to a full video of Bill Viola's 'Ascension' 2000:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C66IBBpWYs
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