Lot 26: Bill Viola

Basin of Tears
This work is from an edition of five and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Overall: 102 x 122 cm (40.2 x 48 in).

Colour video diptych on plasma display mounted on wall.

2005

London, Haunch of Venison, LOVE/DEATH: The Tristan Project, 21 June–2 September 2006

LOVE/DEATH: The Tristan Project, exh. cat., Haunch of Venison, London, 2006, p. 17 (illustrated)

Haunch of Venison, London

Bill Viola is acclaimed internationally as one of the world's leading contemporary artists. For over 30 years he has been at the forefront of developing the medium of video art, helping to establish it as an essential genre of contemporary visual art.
Viola's work focuses on universal human experiences, of birth, death and the unfolding of consciousness. While it often draws on the conventions of Western art, especially the medieval and Renaissance periods, the work is also informed by Viola's involvement with the spiritual traditions of Zen Buddhism as well as his studies of Christian mysticism and Islamic Sufism. Viola has expanded the content and historical reference points of video art, while simultaneously exploring the technological potentials of the medium, breaking boundaries and pushing video to its limits. He established himself as a true master with an unmistakable hand; through slow moving images and his detailed focus on human bodies, he creates visually fascinating and emotionally touching insights.
The present lot, Basin of Tears, forms one of the seven parts of Purification. In Purification, a man and a woman independently undertake the ritual preparations for symbolic sacrifice required for their transformation and rebirth. This process methodically unfolds in seven contiguous image sequences across a time span of fifty minutes. The individual sections are: ‘The Approach'; ‘The Arrival'; ‘The Disrobing'; ‘Ablutions'; ‘Basin of Tears'; ‘The Dowsing'; and ‘Dissolution'.
In Basin of Tears, two videos are projected side by side on two adjacent screens mounted to the wall. This video diptych creates an incredible imagery, colours and the sensual quality of water are presented vividly, just like in an old master painting. Viewers find themselves in a transcendental atmosphere; through the slow pace, the large but still intimate size and the exclusion of any sound, Viola creates a truly fascinating artwork with a powerful visual effect. It seeks to engage the viewer in a visceral and emotional experience that goes to the roots of the human condition and its spiritual sources.