The Figge Art Museum is hosting the Interstellar Exhibition. Starting this month, there will be nine pieces from Leo Villareal’s Nebulae series. There are eighteen hundred different variations that can appear on the sculptures’ surface. There are also selections from Villareal’s NFT series, Cosmic Boom.
Villareal is an internationally renowned light sculptor who uses technology to create his works. His inspiration is from nature and space. He uses abstract to give each viewer a different experience when viewing his work.
Joshua Johnson, Co-Senior Curator, says that people are intrigued by Villareal’s work. “People have really been mesmerized by the patterns that are created on these light sculptures. We have found that people are spending a lot of time in the exhibition. And they often, you know, find a work that is the one they’re engaging with the most, sit down with it, and you know, spend like twenty-thirty minutes kind of watching these sequences reveal themselves.”
He is currently working on a lighting sculpture for the outside of the Figge titled Evanescent Fields. The light sculpture will be able to change lighting and color. The project is set to be unveiled in October 2025.
Villareal has created The Bay Lights on the San Francisco Bay Bridge, Illuminated River in London, which connects nine bridges with one art piece, and Multiverse in Washington D.C., which connected the East and West sides of the National Art Galleries.
The exhibition will run from September until January 2025.