Bill Viola
Small Saints
2008
Bill Viola
Small Saints
2008
Colour high-definition video polyptych on six OLED flat panels mounted on shelf
Overall dimensions (six screens and shelf):
33 x 157.5 x 27.9 cm / (13 x 62⅛ x 11 in)
Edition 1 of 7 + 2 AP
Bal ref: 21694
Six individuals approach out of darkness to confront an invisible threshold at the border between life and death.
Black-and-white images of ghostly figures emerge slowly from complete darkness eventually passing through a threshold of water into a world of colour and light. Reacting with a range of emotions from surprise, to confusion, fear and anger, often with a desire to linger, the figures are finally drawn back through to the other realm. Viola combines images recorded in grainy analogue video using an old surveillance camera with those shot in High-Definition video to bring the viewer to the intersection of obscurity and clarity—from death to life—and back again.
Provenance
The Artist
Private Collection
Exhibitions
Seoul, Kukje Gallery, Bill Viola: Transfigurations, June – August 2008
Berlin, Haunch of Venison, Mythologies, January – February 2009; London, Haunch of Venison, March – April 2009
New York, James Cohan Gallery, Bodies of Light, October – December 2009
Tilburg, De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Bill Viola: The Intimate Work, September 2009 – January 2010
Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bill Viola, October 2015 – April 2016
Literature
Exhibition Catalogue, Seoul, Kukje Gallery, Bill Viola: Transfigurations, 2008, p.86, illustrated in colour, p.50-51
Kira Perov ed., Exhibition Catalogue, New York, James Cohen Gallery, 2009, illustrated in colour, p.60-67
