Unit 2 - Life Cycle - Bill Viola and Andy Goldsworthy

Bill Viola - The Nantes Triptych

Bill Viola specifically works with video media. The 'Nantes Triptych' is a video series created in 1992, the duration of this piece is 29 minutes and 46 seconds. The Nantes Triptych was originally made as a commission for the Centre National des Arts Plastiques in France to be shown in a 17th century chapel in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Nantes. The three panels show video footage of stages in life. The first being a birth, the second being a metaphorical journey between birth and death by a body floating in water, and the third being death. The footage of each stage was not originally intended for this piece; the birth was inspired by the birth of Viola's first son, the floating body was for an earlier piece of work called The Passing, and the death is of his mother as she lay dying in a coma. The footage is accompanied by the sound of crying, water movement and breathing. 


The way that he has brought all three passages together to create The Nantes Triptych in order from birth to death reflects life cycle as if telling a story. In my opinion I don't think of this piece of being depressing and only having three stages of life; I see it as life is never ending, as one being dies, another is born. As the duration of it is nearly 30 minutes I see an inner meaning to it of live life to the full because before you know it it could be over.  

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy, born 26th July 1956, is a British sculptor and photographer who works with nature to make creations. 
The materials he uses for his works often include bright coloured flowers, icicles, leaves, stones and other natural objects. As he only uses natural found objects he cannot edit change them, he uses his bare hands, teeth and found fools to arrange the materials in a way that he is happy with. Andy Goldsworthy also makes permanent sculptures like Roof, Stone River, Moonlit Path which he used machine tools and worked with assistants to build the sculpture and make sure it could withstand time and nature. Photography plays a crucial role in his art, each piece of work grows and decays over time but by taking a photograph of the work will always capture the moment. 

I like the impermanence of his sculptures and the natural beauty within them. Goldsworthy did not build his sculptures to stay, his work is meant to change with the surroundings, and the only permanence of his sculptures is within the photographs he takes after the final product, or before it has disappeared. Andy Goldsworthy always uses natural materials surrounded by the site-specific nature area where he chooses to create his sculpture.

The sculpture that interests me is Pebbles Broken and Scraped. He made something ordinary transform into something we'd take a second look at. I love his idea behind all of his sculptures. I like his understanding of nature, and participation with nature directly; from where he creates and places his artwork to the materials he uses. I feel that his artworks are about the transformation of nature, which we do not pay much attention to, into something to be appreciated and looked at as something of an art form.