It only takes a second for an impression to become a vision. Bill Viola More Quotes by Bill Viola More Quotes From Bill Viola A doctor once told me that with crying you aren't sure what its derivation is. If someone comes at you with a knife, you don't cry: you scream, you try to run. When it's over and you're OK, that's when you cry. Bill Viola knives doctors running Vision connects you. But it also separates you. In my work, and my life, I feel a desire to merge. Not in terms of losing my own identity... but theres a feeling that life is interconnected, that theres life in stones and rocks and trees and dirt, like there is in us. Bill Viola rocks feelings tree The human brain is probably one of the most complex single objects on the face of the earth; I think it is, quite honestly. Bill Viola earth brain thinking Since the time of St. Jerome, it was mandatory for any kind of scholar or thinker to spend time out in the desert in solitude. It's no coincidence that the desert has been a major part of the visionary or mystical experience from the beginning of time. Bill Viola mystical-experiences solitude wisdom I spend a lot of time writing. I get inspiration from texts rather than images. Bill Viola inspiration writing I came of age at the end of the 1960s, just when video was also coming into the world. Companies such as Sony and Panasonic were starting to market it and we artists immediately knew how it could be used. Bill Viola video artist age Video artists being at the low end of the totem pole economically, one of the ways we survive is to go around showing work and giving these talks. Bill Viola artist giving way I think we're in an age where artists really have an incredible range of materials at their command now. They can use almost anything from household items - Jackson Pollock used house paint - to, you know, advanced computer systems, to good old oil paint and acrylic paint. Bill Viola oil artist thinking Human beings have always been creative. The guys who were making the pyramids, and archaeological research has showed us this, had little figurines made by the workers, to express their devotion to their god. Bill Viola guy creative pyramids My works really begin in a very simple way. Sometimes it's an image, and sometimes it's words I might write, like a fragment of a poem. Bill Viola simple writing might Art is, for me, the process of trying to wake up the soul. Because we live in an industrialized, fast-paced world that prefers that the soul remain asleep. Bill Viola me soul world art When you're making video, you're giving structure to time, which is what a composer does. Bill Viola you structure time giving The world is fine and everything is normal and then, bang, you just get bowled over by the wrathful deities somehow. That happens in very small ways and happens in very large ways when you have a major conflagration in the world. It's another cycle of existence of human beings. Bill Viola small everything you world Creativity is not the property of artists alone. It's a basic element of the human character, no matter what culture you're in, no matter where you are on Earth or in history. Bill Viola alone you character history There is a big push that we all are engaged in, in wanting to have the newest in innovation - and I think that's all really great. But I also feel that human beings need to be aware of, and grounded in, history. Bill Viola feel great innovation history I cry a lot. Usually once a day. I think it's one of the most profound forms of human expression. Bill Viola day think cry expression The velocity and knee-jerk response to events happening in real time that television brings us precludes any kind of reflection or contemplation and therefore analysis. And that's been one of the greatest political dangers in the post-war era. The idea of the reasoned, thoughtful response goes out of the window. Bill Viola political reflection time window If you look at landscape in historical terms, you realize that most of the time we have been on Earth as a species, what has fallen on our retina is landscape, not images of buildings and cars and street lights. Bill Viola look lights you time One of the most important things for me in terms of my working method is doubt. I get very insecure about my ideas. And I don't say 'insecure' in kind of a paranoid way. I mean just: 'Are they good enough?' 'Is this the right thing to do?' I really beat myself up over that. Bill Viola good myself me ideas In the 1970s, a lot of critics didn't understand video. I got a lot of bad reviews. But film-makers didn't understand what we were doing, either. There were actual fistfights between film-makers and video-makers. I was witness to one. Bill Viola doing bad understand critics
