The Art of Bill Viola

Book excerpt: In a world where an artist's importance is often conferred by small groups of experts and cognoscenti, Bill Viola's rich imagery touches a nerve with large international audiences. His work never shies away from making big statements about human life and its relation to the universe, to the soul and human spirit, to nature and to death. He is one of those rare artists whose work makes us aware of our nature as human beings, taking art back to what were once its fundamental concerns and giving it a relevance to the emotional and spiritual lives of ordinary people.