Video Art

Video art is a very effective form of art, it was introduced in the 1960's/1970's and you have the real time experience of art happening in front of your eyes. It can be displayed in many different ways, through installations, broadcasts, distributed on DVD, or as sculptural installations that could have the video being played on various monitors either to make up one screen together or have the video playing separately on multiple screens. What makes video art different from cinematic video is that in video art you may not need the use of actors, your creation is purely artistic and has no theatrical story to tell just an artistic one, it doesn't need a plot nor a dialogue to follow and doesn't need to be conventionally classed as entertaining.

I think it may be the best form of art about as you can combine every type of art in it, sound, performance and visuals.

The works of Willie Doherty

Willie Doherty was born in Derry in 1959 and is an artist. He mainly works in photography and video. A lot if not all of his work is influenced by growing up in Northern Ireland and the violence that surrounds it. He was highly influenced by The troubles and this makes his work portray a deeper meaning, that gives you something to figure out and think about. In some works he uses images from the media and works them into his own creations. Doherty presents his work in a way to give it more meaning, his photographs are large in scale to emphasise the apparent emptiness in each scene and his video installations often take up a corner of a room or several walls to create a claustrophobic atmosphere. This all adds to the impact his work has on you nearly making you feel as if you are right in the middle of what is happening in the photograph or the video installation. As his work nearly always is absent of including people the person viewing it kind of makes up for their absence, he manages to create such an isolated eerie feeling through his work. Which really makes it stick with you, not easily forgotten.

Bill Viola

Bill Viola is an American contemporary video artist. He was born in 1951 and is considered one of the leading figures in the video art industry.

His works focuses on human experiences, birth, life, emotion,spirituality and death. He also includes works on various spiritual traditions. His works put across a very powerful message, and especially in his video work people are given the chance to view it in their own personal way.

Music has always played an important part in Viola's work and he has created videos to go along with the work of composers such as Edgard Varese Deserts.

Since the early 1970's Bill Viola's video work has been exhibited all over the world, throughout he has won numerous awards for his work, and I can see why, when you see a piece of his work it effects you deeper than the surface, it creates emotions within you that only a good artist can achieve.