Galería Javier López presents Stars, the second solo exhibition in Spain of Leo Villareal (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1967), which is a step further in its exploration and research on the space-time light narrative structures through technology. With this new series, the author wants to evoke cosmic phenomena such as the birth of the universe.
Leo Villareal's work is born from the light - element which he admits to feel a great fascination - to set certain rules with which he makes combinations in which the friction or speed changes form a sequence or ephemeral trail, as if it were a small constellation in motion.
Stars exhibits three pieces created using the latest technology in LEDs (light emitting diodes.) Each one is composed of tiny white bulbs fixed on a metal frame; the sequence of movements is controlled by software developed by a Mac Mini. With Stars, Villareal investigates the possibilities of drawing as radial light flashes that expand and contract on that circular base. Although each of the three sculptures has their own pace, they achieved to be synchronized creating a sense of harmony between them. Leo Villareal uses technology as a tool that creates organizational structures mixed randomly combining space integrity with rhythms that are altered through numerous changes in form and scale. The resulting sequence leaves a trail of intimate and hypnotic lights, whose changes and diversity of rhythms have an enormous visual power that traps the viewer and reflects the artist's interest in the "visual music" and sensory experiences.
Leo Villareal lives and works in New York. He graduated from Yale (1990) and from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) for the Tisch School of Arts, New York University (1994). He also does outdoor works of a large scale, which reach to transform the surrounding urban environment; he has received numerous public commissions. His most recent site - specific installations can be seen in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC (2008), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York (2008). His recent solo exhibitions have taken place at Conner Contemporary Art, Washington DC (2008) and Stanley & Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, El Paso, Texas (2008).
