Bill Viola was one of the first artists to use film and video in a Fine Art context. He has continued to utilise progressively more advanced equipment to create works in which the technology is secondary to the subject. This allows for the focus to be given to his images which are presented simply, like moving paintings.

Influenced by Western and Eastern art history and spiritual practices, Viola’s work frequently evokes mystical or religious experience. Catherine’s Room 2001 is based on a fourteenth-century predella by Andrea di Bartolo. It presents scenes from the life of St Catherine across a sequence of five screens, using contrasts of light and dark to dramatic effect. Four Hands 2001 concentrates on actions made by a pair of disembodied hands reminiscent of Indian ‘mudras’, the symbolic gestures of Buddhist and Hindu religious iconography.

Both works characterise the more intimate aspects of Viola’s practice, which can be contrasted with his monumental projects dealing with universal themes of birth, death and regeneration.

Bill Viola (US: VY-oh-lə, UK: VEE-oh-lə; born January 25, 1951) is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death and aspects of consciousness.

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