Leo Villareal (born 1967) is an American artist. His work combines

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

lights and encoded computer programming to create illuminated displays. He is living and working in New York City.

Early life and education

Villareal was born in 1967 in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

and raised in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

on both sides of the border. He graduated from

Portsmouth Abbey School Portsmouth Abbey School is a coeducational Benedictine boarding and day school for students in grades 9 to 12. Founded in 1926 by the English Benedictine community, the School is located on a 525-acre campus along Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. ...

in 1986. He received a BA degree in Sculpture from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1990 and a graduate degree from

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

, in the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

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

s strung on the vertical cables of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The installation cost $8 million to install and was activated nightly through 2015. It was replaced in 2016 with a permanent version. July 17, 2019, the first stage of his

Illuminated River ''Illuminated River'' is a large-scale public art commission which lights up nine bridges in central London across the River Thames. Designed by American artist Leo Villareal in collaboration with British architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandiland ...

project went live, the project is running in three phases, and first bridges to be added were

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

Southwark Bridge Southwark Bridge ( ) is an arch bridge in London, for traffic linking the district of Southwark and the City across the River Thames. Besides when others are closed for temporary repairs, it has the least traffic of the Thames bridges in Lond ...

Millennium Bridge Several bridges are known as the Millennium Bridge: * in the United Kingdom **Gateshead Millennium Bridge ** Lune Millennium Bridge, Lancaster ** Millennium Bridge, Glasgow ** Millennium Bridge, London ** Millennium Bridge (Salford Quays) ** Teesqua ...

, and

Cannon Street Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the south of the City. It is the site of the ancient London ...

Bridge. Phase Two, will add Blackfriars Road Bridge,

Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at t ...

Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the ...

Lambeth Bridge Lambeth Bridge is a road traffic and footbridge crossing the River Thames in an east–west direction in central London. The river flows north at the crossing point. Downstream, the next bridge is Westminster Bridge; upstream, the next bridge i ...

, and the Golden Jubilee Footbridges, is planned for autumn 2020 and the entire project by 2022. His piece 'Optical Machine I' was featured in The Miami Beach Edition during Art Basel Miami Beach. His piece 'Liminal Gradient for (RED)' was displayed at the (RED) auction co-founded by

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

. It was described by architect Sir David Adjaye as "an L.E.D. Rothko".

Installations

Villareal is in the collections of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(MoMA) in New York, the

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

and the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

in Washington, D.C., the

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

, and the

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, 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 The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...

in Washington, D.C.,

Madison Square Park Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, fourth President of the United States ...

in New York City, the

Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

, the PS 1 Contemporary Art Center in

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

, New York, The Northpark Mall in Dallas, and

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

Art market

Villareal has been represented by

Pace Gallery The Pace Gallery is an American contemporary and modern art gallery with 9 locations worldwide. It was founded in Boston by Arne Glimcher in 1960. His son, Marc Glimcher, is now president and CEO. Pace Gallery operates in New York, London, Hong ...

since 2016.Robin Scher (October 3, 2016)
Pace Gallery Now Represents Leo Villareal
''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countr ...

''.

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

References

External links

Leo Villareal
* MTA's Arts For Transit �

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villareal, Leo Living people 1967 births Yale University alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni Artists from El Paso, Texas American installation artists Portsmouth Abbey School alumni Bridge light displays