May 17th, 2015
HUA 101
Online Assignment
#8
Bill Viola is a contemporary video
artist and is seen as a leading figure in the generation of artist whose
artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New
Media. The artwork that I’m going to discuss is The Reflecting Pool.
The
Reflecting Pool by Bill Viola: Bill Viola describes the Reflecting Pool as
a collection of five independent works which, taken as a whole, describes the
stages of a personal journey using the images of transition from day to night,
time to timelessness etc. Violas’ videos which includes sounds and video
installations, focus on spirituality and explore multiple levels of human
consciousness. The video illustrates the shift from stillness to motion. A
fixed camera captures a man approaching a pool of water through trees and lush bushes.
The only sounds in the video are those of nature-- branches rustling and the
water rippling. It represents mediation, calmness and soothing sensations. The
man momentarily stands before the pool before jumping into midair over the
water and freezing. The water beneath him continues to ripple. There are passing
reflections of other people walking around the pool, although you can’t see
them doing so physically but through the reflection of the pool. After a series
of similar perceptual and time-based fragmentations, the man’s frozen image in
midair fades out, only leaving the pool there. In the final cuts of the video
are suggestive of baptism, as a nude man emerges from the water and retreats
into the woods as a sign of rebirth and new beginnings. Viola stated, “The
piece concerns the emergence of the individual into the natural world—a kind of
baptism.”
Excellent- very descriptive...
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