LEO VILLAREAL

21 February - 20 March 2004
opening reception: Saturday, 21 February, 6-8pm

sandra gering gallery
534 West 22nd Street, NYC, between 10th and 11th Avenues, www.geringgallery.com

Sandra Gering Gallery is pleased to present the gallery's second one-person exhibition of work by Leo Villareal from 21 February through 20 March 2004.

The exhibition will feature Chasing Rainbows, an installation of 60 glowing tubes of light, arranged in groups of 20 on the gallery's three walls.  Each tube is filled with thousands of red, green and blue LEDs that can be individually modulated, producing a possible palette of 16 million different colors.  Villareal manipulates the colors of the tubes through his own custom software, using both pattern and rhythm to create a mesmerizing temporal abstraction.

Inspired by mathematician John Conway's Game of Life, Villareal's software utilizes its own set of rules that govern autonomous agents within a matrix.  As the agents explore their terrain and encounter one another, a complex system emerges, visually manifesting a larger organism at work. At times, the resulting abstractions resemble the low-resolution graphics of early video games; while at other times, the motion suggests something more organic, like the shimmering surface of water. The layering of multiple systems manifests in hypnotic optical effects that push and pull the picture plane.

Also on view at PS1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City is Villareal's Supercluster, a 45 x 120 foot grid of 640 sequenced LED clusters, installed on the temporary scaffolding at 21st Street and Jackson Avenue.

Upcoming projects by Villareal include a permanent light installation in the new federal courthouse, El Paso, Texas designed by architect Antoine Predock.  In 2004, Villareal will have solo exhibitions at Conner Contemporary Art, Washington DC in May/June, and at Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid, Spain in November.  Villareal's work will also be included in Visual Music 1905-2005, a historic survey exhibition organized by curators Kerry Brougher and Judith Zilczer of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC and Ari Wiseman of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA.  Opening in February 2005 at LA-MOCA, the exhibition will travel to the Hirshhorn in June of 2005.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm.  For further information please contact Marianna Baer at 646.336.7183 or at marianna@geringgallery.com.