Heads slowly turn towards and away from each other, bodies rise from the black murky water, turning from grainy, black and white, unidentifiable shadows of themselves until we can see their full identity in high definition colour, while the artist himself floats submerged in water, something which challenges possibility.

Bill Viola, who had an exhibition of larger works alongside drawings by Michelangelo at the Royal Academy last year, was at Blain-Southern with a number of fascinating small-scale video works, including his self-portrait which could perhaps, with advantage, have been included at the current exhibition at the Gagosian.   In many ways, the small scale of these works gave them greater intensity, mystery, spirituality and power than the large installations which were on show at the Royal Academy.