“Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures engages with ideas relating to the subconscious, the perception of ‘self’ and the ephemerality of life”

A specially produced illustrated catalogue to coincide with Bill Viola’s major 2013 show at Blain|Southern, Frustrated Actions and Futile Gestures. Features an introduction by Mario Codognato, Blain|Southern’s Head Curator and Director of Exhibitions, and edited by Kira Perov.

Viola engages with complex aspects of human experience, including mortality, transience and our persistent, yet ultimately futile attempts to truly and objectively understand ourselves and the meaning of our brief lives. Created between 2012 and 2013, both on location and in the artist’s studio in Southern California, the exhibition presented three distinct bodies of works; the Frustrated Actions, the Mirage and the Water Portraits series. The three works that complete the Frustrated Actions series engage with ideas relating to the subconscious, the perception of ‘self’ and the ephemerality of life.