IMAGES:
SOLARIS,
FLOWERS, DEVIL'S
PLAYGROUND
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARC
SELWYN FINE ART
LEO
VILLAREAL
April 30 – June 1, 2005
Marc
Selwyn Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition
of new work by Leo Villareal, opening Saturday, April
30 through June 1.
Leo
Villareal’s three digital light sculptures will
transform the gallery into a shimmering and luminous
environment. Through the pure technology of LEDs controlled
by his own software -- and with sophisticated art references
to Judd and Flavin – Villareal achieves an effect
simultaneously hypnotic, futurist and organic.
Solaris
is a five-foot diameter, ten-inch deep sculpture consisting
of 80 LED fixtures arranged in four concentric circles.
Complex and layered patterns are generated through Villareal’s
programming which explores symmetrical relationships
within the geometry. Rhythmically pulsing, the work
provides a radiant center for the exhibition.
Flowers
consists of eight 3-foot diameter works organically
arranged across two of the gallery’s walls. Each
‘flower’ has its own rules that govern its
sequencing, but at the same time is part of a larger
system. The piece visually manifests a dialogue between
the individual and the larger organism as sequences
float across its radial clusters of light.
Devil’s
Playground (White) is a 25-by-25 inch matrix of LEDs.
Inspired by mathematician John Conway’s Game of
Life, the artist has created his own sets of rules that
produce complex behaviors. Layered patterns suggest
a creation myth as firefly like points of light swirl
around and multiply over abstract liquid surfaces. This
world becomes increasingly dense and populated displaying
abstract elemental systems that at times resemble water
and fire. Particles of various sizes sweep across these
landscapes, interacting with one another, as they live
and die in a rapidly evolving system. The result is
a dazzling world that merges the technological with
the essential rules that govern ‘life’.
Villareal's Lightscape is included in Visual Music 1905-2005,
an historic survey exhibition currently on display at
the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art that will
travel to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
in Washington, DC in June 2005.
Villareal
has shown extensively throughout Europe and the United
States in both public spaces as well as in galleries
and museums including PS1 Contemporary Art Center/MoMA,
Long Island City; Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary
Art, Palm Beach; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City;
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei; and the Printemps
de Septembre, Toulouse, France. Upcoming projects include
a permanent light installation in a new federal courthouse
in El Paso, Texas, designed by architect Antoine Predock
as well as a 16 by 80 foot site-specific work for the
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York in conjunction
with Extreme Abstraction to be presented in July 2005.
Villareal studied installation sculpture and video at
Yale University and went on to the Interactive Telecommunicatons
Program (ITP) at New York University where he specialized
in virtual reality, simulation and interactive television.
He spent two years as a member of the research staff
at Interval Research, a private think tank in Palo Alto
founded by Paul Allen.
Leo
Villareal’s exhibition for Marc Selwyn Fine Art
is his first solo exhibition on the West Coast; this
show is presented in cooperation with Scenic and Simon
Watson.
Marc
Selwyn Fine Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00am
to 6:00pm. For more information please contact Jennifer Terzian at (323) 933-9911.
Resume
EDUCATION
1994 New York University, M.P.S.
Tisch School of the Arts, Interactive Telecommunications
Program (ITP)
1990 Yale University, B.A.
SOLO
EXHIBITIONS
2005 Galeria Javier Lopez, Madrid
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Sandra Gering Gallery, NY
Conner Contemporary, Washington, DC
2003 Finesilver Gallery, San Antonio,
TX
2002 Sandra Gering Gallery, NY
Conner Contemporary, Washington, DC
SITE
–SPECIFIC COMMISSIONS
2005 Albright-Knox Museum of Art, Buffalo,
NY
2003/2004 GSA Art-in-Architecture project,
new federal courthouse by architect Antoine Predock,
El Paso, TX
2003 Supercluster, PS1, Long Island
City, NY
Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse, France
2002 Lightscape, Palm Beach Institute
of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, FL
Art Among The Stars, Grand Central Station, New York,
NY
Art In General On Canal, Art In General, New York, NY
2001 Site-specific installation, Museo
de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
Massless Medium: Explorations in Sensory Immersion,
Creative Time in The Anchorage, Brooklyn, NY
KMX Reenergize Zone, Moby tour, traveling video installation
GROUP
EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS
2005 Visual Music 1905-2005, the Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC and the Los
Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Fiction.Love-Ultra New Vision
in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Taipei
Editions Fawbush: A Selection, Sandra Gering Gallery,
NY
Summer group show, Sandra Gering Gallery, NY
Optimo, The Ballroom, Marfa, TX
Innovate, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Collector’s Cabinet, Mark Selwyn Fine Art, Los
Angeles, CA curated by Simon Watson2003 High Desert
Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA organized by Andrea Zittel
Winter Light, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City,
NY
In the Gloaming, The Fields Sculpture Park, Ghent, NY
LED as Primary Material, Woodstreet Galleries, Pittsburgh,
PA
2002 Sculpture Now, Palm Beach Institute
of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, FL
Light x 8, The Jewish Museum, NY
Interstate, Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, TX
I Just Can’t Pretend, Derek Eller Gallery, NY
Optical Optimism, Galerie Simone Stern, New Orleans,
LA
Complexity, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz,
NY
Shine02.org, Online art project sponsored by Amnesty
International, organized by Downtown Arts Projects
2001 Tirana Biennale, Tirana (curated
by Miltos Manetas)
Eye Candy, Scott White Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
Synth, organized by Leo Villareal, White Columns, New
York
The Next Perfect 10, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York
(traveling)
Perfect 10: Ten Years in Soho, Sandra Gering Gallery,
New York
2000 rooms_for_listening, CCAC Institute,
San Francisco, CA
Collector’s Choice, Exit Art, New York
City of Lights, curated by Simon Watson & Downtown
Arts Projects, Hermes Boutique, New York
Exposure: The Future of Film Festival, USA Network &
Scfi Channel, New York
The Bunker Project, MTV, New York
SELECTED
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
IFEMA, Madrid, Spain
Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
Jack S. Blanton Museum, Austin, TX
Marc
Selwyn Fine Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00am
to 6:00pm. For additional information please contact
the gallery at (323) 933-9911. |
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