James Cohan an exhibition of important early works by Bill Viola
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, December 12, 2024


James Cohan an exhibition of important early works by Bill Viola
Bill Viola, He Weeps for You, 1976, Video/sound installation. Photo by Kira Perov.



NEW YORK, NY.- James Cohan is presenting an exhibition of important early works by the pioneering video artist Bill Viola, on view at 48 Walker Street from February 25 through March 25, 2023. This is the artist’s eighth solo exhibition at James Cohan. The gallery will host an evening exhibition walkthrough with renowned media arts scholar and curator John G. Hanhardt on Thursday, March 9 from 6-8 PM.

Since the early 1970s, Bill Viola has used video to explore sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge. His works focus on universal human experiences—birth, death, the unfolding of consciousness—and have roots in both Eastern and Western art as well as spiritual traditions, including Zen Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, and Christian mysticism. He has been central to the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art, and in so doing has helped to expand its scope for subsequent generations of artists.

This exhibition features two foundational large-scale installations, He Weeps for You, 1976, and The Reflecting Pool, 1977-9/1997, that employ the element of water as both a metaphor for cycles of rebirth and renewal, and a lens for the variabilities of human perception. Both works demonstrate Viola’s singular capacity to synthesize philosophical inquiry with formal innovation and technical experimentation.

In He Weeps for You, one of Viola’s first video installations, the artist employs the then-cutting-edge technology of closed-circuit live video to make the present immediately tangible, collapsing the remove between image and viewer. Within a darkened room, a copper pipe extends from the ceiling, terminating in a small brass valve positioned at about head height, from which water drips at a very slow rate. A live color video camera with a close-up macro lens focuses on the single droplet as it emerges. This image is projected on a large screen at the back of the room. The optical properties of the waterdrop cause it to act like a wide-angle lens, revealing an image of a room and those within it. As Viola wrote in notes accompanying a 1976 drawing for He Weeps for You, “each time they are revealed within the drop, it falls, destroying the tiny world within and themselves along with it.” Then, in an endless cycle of repetition, a new droplet of water begins to emerge and again fills the screen.

The Reflecting Pool, 1977-9 /1997, is a meditation on the body in time and space that employs a sophisticated approach to nascent video editing technology to complicate perception. In The Reflecting Pool, the artist emerges from the forest and stands before a pool of water. He leaps up and time suddenly stops. All movement and change in the otherwise still scene is limited to the reflections and undulations on the surface of the pond. Time becomes extended and punctuated by a series of events seen only as reflections in the water, building a tension between stasis and motion. The work describes the emergence of the individual into the natural world, a baptism into a world of virtual images and indirect perceptions.










Today's News

February 25, 2023

How hard is it to paint like Vermeer? TV contestants find out.

Lucian Freud's portrait of his daughter, Isobel, to make auction debut

Bowie, and his personas, will live on at Victoria and Albert Museum

Willie Cole's ecological interventions turn trash into art

Contemporary masters lead Phillips' New Now auction

Sotheby's to auction original manuscript for 'Snow Crash': Landmark novel which coined the term 'Metaverse'

Shan Kuang joins Kimbell Art Museum as Conservator of Paintings

New acquisitions at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

The collection of interior designer Cliff Fong presented at Bonhams

"Winfred Rembert: All of Me" at Hauser & Wirth in New York now on view until April 22nd, 2023

Museum to establish Brind Center for African and African Diasporic Art

Important and historic silver pitcher by Paul Revere brings a world record price of $129,875 in Weiss Auctions

Alexander Gray Associates announce move to Tribeca in 2024

International Women's Day Auction 2023, seven female curators to present seven mini auctions

Photo London announces the exhibitors list for the eighth edition of fair at Somerset House

James Cohan an exhibition of important early works by Bill Viola

Four rising theater stars to watch this spring

Anne Imhof, dancing in the ruins

They invited Shakespeare to the cookout. They got 'Fat Ham.'

Poly Auction Hong Kong announces Spring Auctions 2023 of Chinese art

Katherine Rochester appointed Curatorial Director

A Dave Brubeck cantata boasts star soloists: His sons

The Importance of Progesterone

The Power of SEO: Benefits and Advantages for Your Business

An Introduction to the Art of Gambling

Guitar virtuoso Eyal Maoz, presented by Bellus Productions, will embark on a solo concerts tour in Europe and the US.

Creativity & Flow State: A Brief History

Everything You Need To Know About Babestation.tv




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Houston Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful