Nevada Museum of Art

Nevada Museum of Art         

Leo Villareal’s work displayed in the Nevada Museum of Art is quite amazing.  The work consisted of many light sculptures placed throughout the gallery.  The sculptures themselves ranged from round shapes covered in fogged plastic to long rectangular panels that covered a wall.  Many of the shapes were somewhat repetitive but the part that made Villareal’s work intriguing was the pattern of lights and how they moved.  Some were extremely slow fading in and out of colors and brightness; others were long florescent looking bulbs that flowed through an endless amount of patterns and colors.  There were also several sculptures that consisted of many round LED lights.  One specifically was called “Diamond Sea.” This piece was a large mirror wall covered in round LED lights.  After sitting at this for quite a long time the patterns always seem to be new and constantly changing.  In addition, the choice of background material can bring to mind that Villareal may have had the intention for his viewers to interact and be a part of his work. 

While the first glance of the work may bring repetitiveness to mind, it is in the use of the computer that makes it fascinating.  Whether or not these are random computer generated patterns, they show that the computer is now creating the art.  For someone to have to program all these patterns in manually would take years of work, but Villareal’s genius use of the computer brings to life some amazing pieces of art.  In addition, these light sculptures also work with and interact with each other to improve the scene.  Light bounces off of one wall and hits another piece that is next to it or vis versa.  Overall, Villareal’s work is definitely worth looking at and really shows the use of technology and art in a very beautiful manner.