Bill Viola: Annotated Bibliography

Townsend, Chris. The Art of Bill Viola. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004.

This book gives a detailed critical review of Violas work since the 70's with 60 illustrations of his work. Chris Townsend edited Violas' work and organised the book into chapters of essays of ten other art critics who had contributed their views.These chapters dealt with the different thematic and conceptual aspects of Violas art. This was useful as i could access the chapter i was interested in (space, time, video, viola) easily.The information is fairly dense so is more suitable for someone who already had a basic understanding of Violas practice. The contents of these essays are useful as they provide an insightful all over view of Violas main concerns in his Artworks, such as an entire chapter expressing his use of the sublime. It is also nice to have a variety of writing styles contained within the one book.

Walsh, John. John Walsh and Peter Stellars. Bill Viola THE PASSIONS. London: Getty Publications, c.2003

'Bill Viola The Passions' was published in conjunction with the the exhibition held at the J. Paul Getty museum and London National Gallery, 2003 as well as the Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen gallery, Munich in 2004. The information contained includes an account of the exhibition by the curator at the National Gallery, interviews with the artist and observations of Viola at work in his studio.I found this book very interesting as the material wasn't too dense and the layout was organised and varied. The Foreword the curator says the "Getty museum is deeply grateful to Bill Viola for lending his generous spirit to the project", so it seems there is a personal link between Viola and this gallery. This I had also gathered through the contribution he had made to the production of the book through his interviews and the inclusion of his photocopied personal notebook.The exhibition 'The Passions' is given an in depth look here and an ides of Violas' work ethic and thought process are revealed.

Viola, Bill. Official Bill Viola Website. http://www.billviola.com/ [accessed on the 19th of May 2010]

For a Video artist the medium of the computer as a means of accessing information about the artist is very appropriate. The website is very useful as it contains biography, interviews and news of upcoming exhibitions. It is also possible to buy his video works from here. An overview of numerous articles and interviews are sited, which is very useful as a starting point while researching. Most of his recent works are displayed here as well in picture form.