Video artist Bill Viola dies

The American video artist Bill Viola died at the age of 73 at his residence in Long Beach (California), his studio confirmed this Saturday.

The American video artist Bill Viola died at the age of 73 at his residence in Long Beach (California), his studio confirmed this Saturday. The New Yorker died "peacefully" on Friday at his home due to complications from Alzheimer's disease he was suffering from, Bill Viola Studio, which is run by his wife, Kira Perov, reported on social media.

Noted as one of the most important contemporary artists in the world, Viola quickly began to gain a reputation as the first artistic creators working with video began to emerge in the 1970s.

Inspired by the great masters of the Renaissance, many of his works echoed great works of that period, although his early projects show a fascination for special effects. During the 1990s, his works acquired a more personal character after the death of his mother and the birth of his second son, a period in which 'Triptych de Nantes' stands out, where in one of the three panels he exhibits images of the his mother on her deathbed.

The American media allude this Saturday to his greatest works, among which stand out The Quintet Series (2000), Observance (2002), The Tristan Project (2004), The Night Journey (2005), Ocean Without a Shore ( 2007) and Bodies of Light (2009). Viola, born in 1951 in New York, graduated in Fine Arts from Syracuse University in 1973, and soon after began collaborating with avant-garde pianist and composer David Tudor, one of many artists and institutions with which he worked during his long career. He received numerous awards, among them the one awarded by the MacArthur Foundation (1989), the Catalunya XXI International Prize (2009), the Praemium Imperiale of the Japan Art Association (2011) and the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa ( 2011) from the University of Liege (Belgium).