(b. Albuquerque, NM, 1967)

Leo Villareal is considered a pioneer in the art world for his use of LEDs and computer-programmed imagery. He studied stage design and art at Yale University, and later pursued a graduate degree at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. From 1994 to 1997, the artist worked at Paul Allen’s Interval Research Corporation in Palo Alto, California, studying and working on virtual reality projects. Villareal creates software programs that sequence light patterns in infinite combinations, evolving randomly and changing constantly. Through basic elements such as pixels and binary codes, the artist builds large-scale sculptural installations that defy predictability and ultimately grow into complex forms that question common notions of space, time, and sensory pleasure.

Leo Villareal’s solo exhibitions include Pace Gallery, Palo Alto, CA (2020); The Armory Show, New York, NY (2019); and Pace Gallery, Hong Kong (2018). Villareal's work is in the permanent collections of many museums including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, Kagawa, Japan; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. In 2013, Villareal inaugurated The Bay Lights, a monumental 1.8-mile-long installation of 25,000 white LED lights on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge which has since become a permanent installation. In December of 2016 the Illuminated River Foundation announced the selection of Villareal’s artistic vision, for London’s 15 bridges spanning the River Thames.

Villareal lives and works in New York, New York.