Leo Villareal
{{short description|American artist (born 1967)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2021}}
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Leo Villareal (born 1967) is an American artist. His work combines LED lights and encoded computer programming to create illuminated displays.Tan, Lumi. Biesenbach, Klaus, ed. Greater New Jersey, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, 2005, p338. He lives and works in New York City.
Early life and education
Villareal was born in 1967 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and raised in El Paso on both sides of the US/Mexico border.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Leo Villareal|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/leo-villareal-30981|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 17, 2020|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Portsmouth Abbey School Winter 2020 Alumni Bulletin|url=https://issuu.com/portsmouthabbeyschool/docs/bulletin_winter_2020_issu|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 17, 2020|website=Issuu|page=76|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Leo Villareal: Early Light|url=https://epma.art/art/exhibitions/leo-villareal-early-light|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 17, 2020|website=El Paso Museum of Art}}{{Cite web|last=Acosta|first=Dave|title=El Paso visual artist awarded Texas Medal of Arts|url=https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/entertainment/arts/2017/03/03/el-paso-visual-artist-awarded-texas-medal-arts/98705870/|access-date=September 17, 2020|website=El Paso Times|language=en-US}} He graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 1986. He received a BA degree in Sculpture from Yale University in 1990 and a graduate degree from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, in the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=May 25, 2017|title=Leo Villareal|url=https://moody.rice.edu/art/leo-villareal|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=September 17, 2020|website=Rice University, Moody Center for The Arts|language=en}}
Career
The decisive moment that started his career came in Nevada's Black Rock desert during the 1997 Burning Man festival, when Villareal rigged up a strobe-light array above his tent so that he could find it more easily.
On March 5, 2013, Villareal debuted his largest piece to that date, The Bay Lights, a public light installation consisting of 25,000 LEDs strung on the vertical cables of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-09-12|title=Palo Alto welcomes renowned Bay Bridge light artist for exclusive new gallery show|url=https://thesixfifty.com/palo-alto-welcomes-renowned-bay-bridge-light-artist-for-exclusive-new-gallery-show-4b8829cf2cdb|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-17|website=The Six Fifty|language=en}} The installation cost $8 million to install and was activated nightly through 2015.Wollan, Malia (March 4, 2013) "[https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/05/us/light-sculpture-is-set-for-bay-bridge.html Long Stuck in Obscurity, Bay Bridge Will Go From Drab Gray to Glowing]". New York Times. nytimes.com. Retrieved April 8, 2018. It was replaced in 2016 with a permanent version.{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/25000-Bay-Bridge-LED-Lights-to-Shine-Again-Just-in-Time-for-Super-Bowl-50-365310921.html|last=Rosato Jr. |first=Joe|title=25000 Bay Bridge LED Lights to Shine Again Just in Time for Super Bowl 50 |date=January 15, 2016|publisher=NBC Bay Area |access-date=April 8, 2018}}
In July 17, 2019, the first stage of his Illuminated River project went live with lighting added to London Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Millennium Bridge, and Cannon Street bridges.{{Cite web|url=https://secretldn.com/illuminated-river-thames/|title=Colourful Light Displays Are Now Illuminating London's Bridges|last=L|first=Alex|date=July 18, 2019|website=Secret London|language=en-GB|access-date=October 24, 2019}} Phase Two added Blackfriars Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, and the Golden Jubilee Bridges, and was completed in April 2021.{{Cite web |date=13 April 2021 |title=The Illuminated River artwork is now complete! |url=https://illuminatedriver.london/discover/the-illuminated-river-artwork-is-now-complete |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=Illuminated River |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |date=2021-04-14 |title=Illuminated River: Final bridges light up for Thames artwork |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-56744132 |access-date=2023-04-27}}
His piece Optical Machine I was featured in The Miami Beach Edition hotel during the 2019 Art Basel art fair.{{Cite web|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-miami-edition-celebrates-art-basel-with-leo-villareal-installationandnbsp|title=The Miami Beach Edition Celebrates Art Basel With Leo Villareal Installation|website=Architectural Digest|date=December 8, 2019 |language=en|access-date=December 10, 2019}} His piece Liminal Gradient for (RED) was displayed at the 2018 (RED) auction.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/12/exclusive-tour-of-the-red-auction-at-art-basel|title=An Exclusive Tour of the (RED) Auction at Art Basel|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=December 6, 2018 |language=en|access-date=December 10, 2019}}
Installations
Villareal is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Renwick Gallery and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, as well as in the private collections of contemporary art collectors CJ Follini. His work has also been on display at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., Madison Square Park in New York City, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the PS 1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City, New York, The Northpark Mall in Dallas, and Brooklyn Academy of Music.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}}
Art market
Gallery
File:Multiverse - Leo Villareal.JPG|Multiverse, 2008, light sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
File:Multiverse light sculpture - HDR.jpg|Multiverse, 2008, light sculpture, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
File:Volume by Leo Villareal, LED Exhibit at Renwick Museum.jpg|Volume, 2015, Renwick Gallery, Washington DC
File:Infinite_Composition_at_Lindemann_Performing_Arts_Center.jpg|Infinite Composition, 2023, at the Lindemann Performing Arts Center
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.villareal.net Leo Villareal]
- MTA's Arts For Transit — [https://web.archive.org/web/20120828070431/http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=6&artist=1&station=22 Hive at Bleecker Street/Lafayette Street]
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Category:Yale University alumni
Category:Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Category:Artists from El Paso, Texas
Category:American installation artists
Category:Portsmouth Abbey School alumni