Leo Villareal

On April 20, I went to the Nevada Museum of Art with my Digital Media Class. During out visit, we got the unique opportunity to see the Leo Villareal exhibition. Using light, it was a medium that I must admit that I wasn't completely familiar with. However, it made my visit to the museum a completely mind blowing and inspirational one!

Leo Villareal got his inspiration for using light at Burning Man. His first time attending the event, he saw all sorts of different artists doing what they do best, and was motivated to find his own artistic self. He set up a series of lights so that he wouldn't get lost in the Black Rock Desert at night, as the lights were visible for miles from his camp
Site. It is there that, according to the museum, Villareal got inspired to use his artistic ability towards light up pieces.

The first few pieces in the exhibit, being the oldest, were by far the most basic. One that I thought was rather interesting was "Sunburst," a 2002 piece featuring 2-3 red lights at a time interacting within a circular space. The way that the lights moved was reminiscent of a pong game, but the color was undeniably hypnotizing as the lights raced across the circle.

(pictures coming soon)

Next, I viewed a piece that looked rather like a large blue snowflake. The snowflake was made out of circles, and it was a teal color. The piece was definitely showing growth from sunburst in the scale. There were more lights and slightly more intricate designs and patterns in which they lit up. The lights would flash on for a second and then dim out at different times in each circle. The piece was called Metatron (2002).

Chasin rainbows was a piece using led lights inside of a large tube, giving the lights freedom to be seen from inside. The way they lit up the pipe was mesmerizing. The best way to describe it would be to say it was like glowsticks on crack. The lights shifted and made patterns across what almost looked like a screen of pipes, and seemingly created a picture. It display was stunning with it's stay of pinks, yellows and whites. "6 column" played with this idea too, but separated the pipes more, and turned them vertical.

Villareal's large scale pieces were absolutely mind-blowing! "Ananecer" presented a massive screen of color, playing with pinks and yellows dancingbehind a blurry plexiglass wall. It was almost as if looking through a blurry window at a city on the other side. It was fascinating to Stare at for a little while.

Next, "Diamond Sea" (2007) used LED's flashing across a large mirrored wall. They worked together to form an image that looked like ripples on water. It was amazing to see the way the lights almost danced across the wall, becoming the "sea" that the title assumes.

"Big Bang" from 2008 was my favorite piece. It was round, similar to "Sunburst", but it was much more complex. The lights dance around the center, hundreds at a time, with an array of colors that hadn't been displayed by any of the other pieces.

The lights that Villareal plays with get more and more complex as time goes on. Different algorithms are being used for each piece, and it makes me excited and almost anxious to see what he comes out with next. I will definitely be following Villareal's career from here on out.