Bill Viola’s New Video Project Is a Rebirth of Sorts

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ken Johnson
Bill Viola goes for big, cosmic themes, which he funnels into technically impressive video works of compelling, quasi-religious sincerity. The main event of this exhibition is an awesome video called “Inverted Birth.” The 15-foot-tall projection shows in slow motion and in reverse a man standing on a bare stage as he is subjected to a tremendous deluge of liquid. While blood and milk are essential fluids of the birth and life of the body, the sequence also suggests spiritual transformation out of darkness and into the clear light. [link]

Norman Scott in Bill Viola’s video “Inverted Birth” (2014), in which liquids carry symbolic weight. Credit Courtesy of the artist and Kira Perov/James Cohan, New York

Bill Viola
"Inverted Birth"
James Cohan
533 West 26th Street, Chelsea
Through Jan. 30