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 beginfragmentimage Change image and share on social
In the mid- to late '60s to the mid-'70s, when I was a student, there was a major change in the thinking about what art can be and how art is made. Bill Viola 60s70sart Change image and share on social
There's another world out there just beyond the world we're in. It's just on the other side of that translucent, semitransparent surface. Bill Viola semitransparentsidesurface Change image and share on social
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 braincomplexearth Change image and share on social
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 acrylicadvanceage share on social
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 begincoincidencedesert share on social
When you come into my pieces, it's not an intellectual experience, it's a physical experience. It's coming at your body. There's light, there's sound, the lights in some pieces are going on and off. There's loud roaring sound happening. Bill Viola bodycomeexperience share on social
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 1970sactualbad share on social
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 buildingcarearth share on social
Emotions are the key to many aspects of life. They are precisely the elements that make human beings human. I think the fact that emotions have been reduced and put off to the side in intellectual work, particularly in the 20th Century, is tragic. Bill Viola 20thaspectbeing share on social
