Bill viola @ Blaine Southern

 'Moving stillness' is a landmark in Viola's meditations on the fragility of nature and our perception of its changes over time. Viola's video installations create total environments that envelop the viewer in image and sound. In doing this, the viewer is forced into feeling the effects of the artwork, with no distractions from anything other than their mind. Viola's work explores the phenomena of sense perception as an avenue to self knowledge, linking to universal human experiences like birth, death and the unfolding of consciousness. In this way is creates an accessible platform to all, but with a focus on subjectivity, as the artworks seek to truly engage ones mind. Myself, I am very interested in consciousness and the human condition, and my works are often concerned with exploring the both the limits and phenomena of humanity. However my approach if often more forceful and questioning. Viola's work is more subtle and calm with 'moving stillness', creating a 'rare moment for mindful focus', perhaps in my own practise I employ this quote and seek to create work that allows for concentration on ones mind, to reflect some of my ideas around consciousness.
Viola subverts the image of a mountain from one of strength, something that is solid and unmoving into a form that appears fragile. Due to the installation environment the mountain is constantly unravelling & reforming. It becomes metamorphic for the existence of the mountain as a conceptual image in the mind. THE MOUNTAIN NEVER MOVES, ONLY YOUR MIND DOES. This idea of the mind over reality is something that deeply interests me. I believe that only what your mind see's is real, as you can only live through your mind. If your mind tells you the mountain is moving then the mountain is moving because subjectively there is no world other than the one you see. Viola's approach is slightly different but both focus on the mind and the world we see. I find making artwork about this topic very difficult because it focuses on something we cannot see and anything I make is completely subjective to me as only I know my mind. However 'moving stillness' shows how this sort of subject matter can be tackled.