ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By
Gregory &
Ernest Disney-Britton
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| Still shot of Bill Viola's "Mary" (2016). Video triptych. |
Merry Christmas! We are writing as we drive to Cincinnati, where we will spend the day celebrating the birth of Jesus. Celebrating that birth is also what video artist
Bill Viola did this year at Saint Paul's Cathedral in England. Video is the defining medium of our time, and
Viola's "
Mary" is the most important religious art installation of 2016. He depicted the mother of Jesus as both a nursing Mary and a grieving Mary.
Viola's "Mary" is a universal female figure radiating
unconditional love, as she experiences both birth and death in the past and in the present. The work is a 2014 companion piece to '
Martyrs (Earth, Air, Fire, Water),' the first moving-image artwork to be installed in a cathedral in England on a long-term basis. As we celebrate today, we are honored to have spent the year of 2016 religious art with you. Have a very Mary Christmas!
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| In September, Bill Viola unveiled the second installation at St Paul’s Cathedral London. Viola said: “Mary is a universal female figure present in nearly all spiritual and religious traditions. |
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| Still shot detail of Bill Viola's "Mary" (2016). Video triptych. |
