Bill Viola / Michelangelo Life - Death - Rebirth

22 March 2019

Year one undergrad review of the Bill Viola / Michelangelo exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts

Michelle Tjahjono

The Royal Academy viewing, which joins film technician Bill Viola and Michelangelo’s small graphite drawings, is a prime example of how presenting your work alongside the ‘divine one’ will only lead to a difficult and some might say, awkward encounter for us, viewers.

Bill Viola, born in New York, began working amongst the first generation of video artists, who came about as a result of more affordable and portable equipment in the 1960s. He typically develops videos from single- monitor works to large- scale installations, which combines bending the experimental margins of contemporary practice, with his engagement with spiritual art such as Buddhism, Sufism and Christian mysticism. Michelangelo Buonarroti was considered as one of the greatest artists in the Western canon. From 1475 to 1564, he produced work that were described in terms of ‘terribilita’ meaning tremendous skill combined with a saintly power which borders his drawings on the Sublime. Yet, he relates his pieces to a human level through the feelings of intimacy his drawings provoke. He invites us, as the audience, to take a step closer to the artist, exploring his personal beliefs, passions and his overall commitment to a vocation that nurtured his creativity. The curators formed a somewhat ‘orderly maze’ thanks to signs paired with darkness, using the upper floors of the Royal Academy of Arts to provide enough lighting for Michelangelo’s drawings and contrasting this by withholding lights for Viola’s video pieces. Pieces from both artists which shared the same room, could not help but cancel each other out, as there appeared to be difficulty striking a balance between making sure every detail from Michelangelo's pencil markings were visible and taking away lighting for Bill Viola’s videos. The result led to a room with installations from both artists that were more depthless and half-baked rather than inter-dependent and resonating.

Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London in partnership with Royal Collection Trust and with the collaboration of Bill Viola Studio. David Parry / © Royal Academy of Arts

The wall texts (both Viola’s and Michelangelo's) provided in breaks between pieces, reassured us of the extensive depth of their lives (especially that of Viola’s) and the journey they had taken to ‘enlightenment’. It almost seemed as if the pieces could not stand for themselves without assistive wall texts. There was little narrative but more explanation after explanation, which held our hands throughout our journey of Viola’s life- which one could say text compensated for the lack of mental illumination I received from Viola’s videos. The exhibition feels mildly relevant to today’s issues as life, death and rebirth are mysteries that have always acquired a presence in our lives and one that the average person may have touched upon at times of stress, mourning or immense happiness. These are life questions that have been asked of us for centuries but I personally would not recommend looking to this exhibition to answer them unless one has truly researched Bill Viola in depth to understand why those elderly people were shining torches on their sagging bodies (Man Searching for Immortality/ Woman Search- Searching for Eternity (2013)). The last piece of Viola’s, which regrettably ended the exhibition, was a projection of a reverse waterfall of scorching fire, burning as high as the ceiling, propped by a vertical banner. ‘Fire Woman’ (2005) was supposed to convey the soul falling into the flames un-fearful, while revelling in the shower fire for what seemed like minutes. It was finally quenched by what reminded me of holy water. Ironically, it did not strike any reaction of the Sublime, rather, it felt a bit awkward, cheap and most importantly unbearably pretentious. It almost seemed to be the work of cheap CGI in a cringe-worthy action film, which attempts to overshadow (and yet fails miserably to do so) the work of light graphite rubbings.

A colossal room consisting of screens with images of clouded darkness conveys what I am guessing was a first- person view of being heavily submerged underwater. These images intensified the feeling of helplessness which I could resonate with, being lost in the darkness of the space surrounding me. This, to my content, completely depicted the visual Sublime. On the other hand, there was an issue with consistency. Whilst some rooms were chosen to house large scale pieces, other rooms housed videos which seemed incredibly un-sublime and tasteless in comparison. For instance, a small room that viewers could enter, housed screens of ethnically and age- diverse individuals submerged underwater, which completely exposed the mystery of the first-person view of experiencing submergence I had walked into earlier. Time- lapse like videos were like scenes from a public health announcement about safety at the beach in regard to the water, showing people gracefully drowning and asking the viewer “What would you do?” I personally would not record these people drowning. I felt completely underwhelmed after experiencing other vast sizes of rooms where it had the ability to create the sense of true isolation due to not only the size of the rooms, but also the extreme darkness, which made me lose my bearings at some points. Here, I welcomed the submergence, feeling helpless, claustrophobic and disorientation. For a while. After, I could not bear to stay long in the dark and moving on made me look forward to finding light in the next few pieces from Michelangelo - both physical light and light in understanding. The wall texts and labels played the role of educating me about the depth of Michelangelo’s pieces as they were exceptionally informative.

Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London in partnership with Royal Collection Trust and with the collaboration of Bill Viola Studio. David Parry / © Royal Academy of Arts

Unfortunately, they hold our hands too often and take away our ability to consume the images with our own thoughts, making us quite passive to actually studying the drawings for ourselves. A master- apprentice relationship exists between Michelangelo and Viola where the master expressed his divine relationship with God, whilst Viola has yet to even touch the boundary of sanctity.

Overall, it is clear they both offer different spiritual visions that are more thought- provoking as individuals and the experience would have earned the title of being an exhibition and a show if more thought would have been given into the curation including what pieces are appropriate for what rooms. A lack in synchrony and reciprocity between the two talented artists led to a compromise of the spotlight and as a result each felt consumed by the other, like an exhibition that self- cannibalised.

For more details on this exhibition, visit:

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/bill-viola-michelangelo