Bill Viola is the main installation film artist who was given to me for my research. Upon first reading and viewing of his work I felt that it was strangley dark and surreal. The general feeling I got when viewing his work was that of mystery as it appears to me his approach towards contemporary art challenges mainstream society. Hailed as one of the leading artists in the establishment of video as a form of contemporary art. Viola's work spans over 35 years and features videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances, flat panel video pieces, and works for television broadcast. With this you can imagine the experience in the industry is vast and one element to his work which I like is his ability use video to explore the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self-knowledge.
As you can see from this image the striking sense of suffering is almost to overwhelming. There is a soft sadistic atmosphere which I think is created through the dark lighting and composition of the water being used as a drowning effect. The use of the vest reveals more skin almost attracting a sexual element.
Looking at Bill Viola's work has made me think about possible ways to film. I feel that I won't take to much inspiration from Viola's work as it's too disturbing and surreal.
