Artist Biography

Villareal received a BA in sculpture from Yale University in 1990, and a graduate degree from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Interactive Telecommunications Program. Recent exhibitions include: a site-specific installation at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Visual Music 1905-2005, The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC and Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; All-Digital, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH; Greater New York 2005, PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY and Fiction: New Vision in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, China. Villareal also has permanent installations at the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Perry Capital, New York, NY, and Related Companies, Columbus Circle, NY.


CV

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1967
Lives and works in New York City
www.villareal.net


EDUCATION

1994
New York University, M.P.S. Tisch School of the Arts, Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP)
1990
Yale University, B.A.


SOLO EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS

2016
Spacetime, fused space, San Francisco, CA
Buckyball Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA

2015
Leo Villareal, NorthPark Center, Dallas, TX

2014
Buckyball, Sandra Gering Inc, New York, NY

2013
Digital Sublime, Miles C Horton Jr. Gallery, Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.

2012
New Work, Conner Contemporary, Washington, DC
Buckyball, Madison Square Park, New York, NY

2011
Volume, Gering & López Gallery, New York, NY

2010
Leo Villarreal, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, traveling to: Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
Recent Works, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL

2009
Galeria Javier López, Madrid, Spain

2008
Conner Contemporary, Washington, DC

2007
Gering & López Gallery, New York, NY

2006
Conner Contemporary, Washington, DC

2005
Galería Javier López, 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

2016
Volume (Frisco), Dallas Cowboys Headquarters, Frisco, TX
Light Matrix (Auckland Theatre Company), Auckland Theatre Company, Auckland, New Zealand
2015
Light Matrix, 3601 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Hexagonal Grid, Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering and Chemistry (CBEC) Building, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Threshold, The ART a hotel, Denver, CO

2013
The Bay Lights, Bay Bridge, San Francisco, CA
Volume (Durst), 1133 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY

2012
Cosmos, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
Hive (Bleecker Street), MTA Arts for Transit and Urban Design, Bleecker Lafayette Station, New York, NY
Cylinder II, TEFAF Maastricht 2012 Art Fair, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Line, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY

2011
Radiant Pathways, Rice University, Houston, TX

2010
Sky (Tampa), Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa FL
Sky, United States Federal Courthouse, El Paso, TX

2009
Diagonal Grid, Borusan Center for Culture and Arts, Istanbul, Turkey
Threshold, 1801 K Street, Washington, DC

2008
Scintillator, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
(temporary)
Multiverse, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

2007-2008
Stars, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY

2007
Microcosm, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS

2006
Chasing Rainbows (Perry Capital), Perry Capital, New York, NY
Untitled, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP, Washington, D.C.
Chasing Rainbows (Perry Capital), Perry Capital, New York, NY

2005
Light Matrix, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

2004
Chasing Rainbows/New Haven, Yale University, New Haven, CT

2003-2004
GSA Art-in-Architecture project, new federal courthouse by architect Antoine Predock, El Paso, TX

2003
Supercluster, PS1/MoMA, 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, Mexico
Massless Medium: Explorations in Sensory Immersion, Creative Time in The Anchorage, Brooklyn, NY
KMX Reenergize Zone, Moby tour, traveling video installation


GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016
LIGHT/SOURCE, Phillips, New York, NY
Into the Ether: Contemporary Light Artists, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
Ilumination: Light as Medium, The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, Idaho Falls, ID
2015
WONDER, Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
Systems and Corruptions, The National Exemplar Gallery, New York, NY
Intervenciones, Proyecto AMIL, Centro Comercial Camino, Lima, Peru

2014
Tracking the Cosmos, Simons Center Gallery, Stony Brook University, NY
Luminous Flux: Digital & Geometric Art from the Thoma Foundation,
Thoma Foundation, Santa Fe, NM
Spaced Out: Migration to the Interior, Red Bull Studios, New York, NY

2013
Light Show, Hayward Gallery, London, UK Travelling to; Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand; MoCA Australia, Sydney, Australia; Sharjah Art
Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; CorpArtes, Santiago, Chili


2012
Extended Minimalism, Javier López Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Motion and Emotion: Contemporary Art from Gerhard Richter to Chakaia Booker, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Inquisitive Eyes: El Paso Art 1960-2012, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX

2011
Longitudes de Onda, Espacio de Arte OTR., Madrid, Spain
Red (Force Fields), David Richard Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
January White Sale, curated by Beth Rubin DeWoody, Loretta Howard Gallery, New York, NY
Altered States, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Almost Tangible, Arario Gallery, Beijing, China

2010
Small is Beautiful, Galerie Seomi, Seoul, Korea
Illuminations (After Arthur Rimbaud), LTMH Gallery, New York, NY
Multiple Pleasures: Functional Objects in Contemporary Art, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY
Love in Vein: Editions Fawbush projects & artists 2005-2010, Gering & López Gallery, New York, NY

2008
Claiming Space, Stanley & Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, University of Texas, El Paso, TX
That Was Then, This is Now, P.S.1/MoMA, New York, NY

2007
Digital Stories, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (CGAC), Santiago, Spain
New Wave Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY

2006
Lightworks, Galería Javier López, Madrid, Spain
Backdrop, Bloomberg SPACE, London, England
All Digital, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
Summer Light, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY
Art in America, Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2005
Set and Drift, Governors Island, NY
Op-ish, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
Extreme Abstraction, The Albright-Knox Museum of Art, Buffalo, NY
Visual Music 1905-2005, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Greater New York, PS1/MoMA, Long Island City, NY

2004
Fiction.Love-Ultra New Vision in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Tiawan
Editions Fawbush: A Selection, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY
Summer group show, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY
The Ballroom, Marfa, TX
Innovate, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Collector's Cabinet, Mark Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA curated by Simon Watson

2003
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
Woodstreet Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA

2002
Sculpture Now, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, FL
Light x 8, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Interstate, Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, TX
I Just Can't Pretend, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, 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, Albania (curated by Miltos Manetas)
Eye Candy, Scott White Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
Synth, organized by Leo Villareal, White Columns, New York, NY
The Next Perfect 10, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY (traveling)
Perfect 10: Ten Years in Soho, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY

2000
rooms_for_listening, CCAC Institute, San Francisco, CA
Collector's Choice, Exit Art, New York, NY
City of Lights, curated by Simon Watson & Downtown Arts Projects, Hermes Boutique, New York, NY
Exposure: The Future of Film Festival, USA Network & Scfi Channel, New York, NY
The Bunker Project, MTV, New York, NY


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

McKeough, Tim. "On The Bright Side: Painting Architecture With Light, An Artist Programs The Next Wave of Abstract Art." Surface Magazine, Issue 82. 6 May 2010.
Sheets, Hilarie M. "Points of Light." ARTnews. June 2009.
Yablonsky, Linda. "Light Meal." Artforum.com. 31 March 2009.
Camhi, Leslie. "Light Fantastic." Vogue, March 2009, p. 366.
Johnson, Ken, "Will the Revolution be Museumized? Will there be a Revolution," The New York Times,
July 25, 2008
Bryant, Eric, "Reviews: New York," ARTnews, p. 139, June 2007
Andreu, Nicole, "Artistas de Luz," Agenda Artistica Internacional, Casas Magazine, p. 100,
April 2007
Killeen, Michael, "Lights Swarm, Pulse in New Gallery," Bloomberg.com, April 4, 2007
Scott, Andrea, "Art in Review: Leo Villareal," New York Times, March 23, 2007
Wennerstrom, Nord, "Leo Villareal, Conner Contemporary Art," Artforum International,
February 2007
Green, Tyler, "Acquisitions: Albright-Knox Art Gallery", ArtsJournal.com, March 6, 2006
Gurewitsch, Matthew, "Artists With an Eye for Music," The Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2005
Kimmelman, Michael, "With Music for the Eye and Colors for the Ear," The New York Times, July 1, 2005
Berwick, Carly, "Dada Digital," NYU Alumni Magazine, Spring 2005
Nuncio, Gabriel, "Anos Luz," Spot Magazine, #24, 2005
Gopnik, Blake, "Music to Your Eyes: At Hirshhorn, Multimedia Excusion Doesn't Go Far," The Washington Post, June 23, 2005
Lidgus, Sarah, "Electric Light Orchestra," Surface Magazine, #50, 2004
Globerman, Sari, "Symphonic Movement," ARTnews, November 2004
Jenkins, Mark, "Conceptualists, Putting It on the Line," The Washington Post Weekend, June 2, 2004
Hummer, Tracey, "Leo Villareal at Sandra Gering Gallery," Art in America, June 2004
Berwick, Carly, "Leo Villareal at Sandra Gering Gallery," ARTnews, June 2004
Hilner, Jennifer, "Color Coding," Wired Magazine, June 2004
Hart, Sara, "The hypnotic light sculptures of Leo Villareal," Architectural Record, May 2004
Dawson, Jessica, "LED to Gold," The Washington Post, May 27, 2004
Zacks, Stephen, "Lite Show," Metropolis, May 2004
Gavlak, Sarah, "Leo Villareal," ARTus, May 2004
Edelson, Sharon, "Light Fantastic," Women's Wear Daily, March 17, 2004
Levin, Kim, "Leo Villareal," Village Voice, March 17, 2004
Gupta, Anjali, "San Antonio, Texas," Art Papers, November/December 2003
Bahamon, Alejandro, ed. "Chill Out: Architecture and Interiors", Loft Publications, September 2003
Tanguy, Sarah, "Leo Villareal at Conner Contemporary Art", Sculpture Magazine, July/August 2003
Dawson, Jessica, "Leo Villareal at Conner Contemporary Art," tema celeste, March-April 2003
O'Sullivan, Michael, "Villareal's Trippy Light Fantastic," The Washington Post, December 6, 2002
Dawson, Jessica, "At Conner, Shining Examples," The Washington Post, November 28, 2002
Dixon, Glenn, "The Light That Will Cease To Fail," Washington CityPaper, Nov. 28-Dec. 5, 2002
Valdez, Sarah, "Leo Villareal at Sandra Gering Gallery," Time Out New York, March 20, 2002
Johnson, Ken, "Art Guide: Leo Villareal," The New York Times, March 8, 2002
Lozano, Luis-Martin, Arte Contemporanio Internacional, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico DF, 2001 (catalog)
Dannat, Adrian, "Synthesiser's synthetic synthesis," Artist's Interview with Leo Villareal, The Art Newspaper, July-August 2001
Griffin, Tim, "Synth," Time Out New York, Issue 302, July 5-12, 2001
Pollack, Barbara, "Ambient Art", Art In America, November 2001
Smith, Roberta, "Massless Medium, Explorations in Sensory Immersion," The New York Times, Friday, July 20, 2001
Pratt, Kevin, "Massless Medium, Explorations in Sensory Immersion," Time Out New York, Issue 303, July 12-19, 2001
Johnson, Ken, "Collector's Choice, Exit Art," The New York Times, Friday December 15, 2000
"Collector's Choice, Exit Art," The New Yorker, December 11, 2000
Shelburne, Philip, "Rooms For Listening," Frieze, January-February, 2001
Baker, Kenneth, "Stop, Look and Listen, Rooms For Listening," San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 2000
Berk, Amy, "Rooms For Listening at CCAC," Artweek, November 2000
Breslin, Ramsay Bell, "Rooms For Listening," East Bay Press, October 13, 2000
Helfand, Glen, "Sonic Boom, 2000 Is The Year Of Sound Art," SF Gate, October 13, 2000
Pandicio, Richard, "Ones To Watch," Interview, November 1999


SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Arario Museum, Seoul, Korea
Borusan Music House, Istanbul, Turkey
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, New York, NY
IFEMA, Madrid, Spain
Jack S. Blanton Museum, Austin, TX
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, Washington, DC
Margulies Collection, Miami, FL
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
Perry Capital, New York, NY
The Related Companies, New York, NY
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Somerset Partners, New York, NY
Time Warner Center, New York, NY