The next iteration of Leo Villareal’s Cosmologies NFTs: Cosmic Bloom has been released thanks to a partnership with the digital art platform Outland.
Leo Villareal is the resident programming and LED-lighting genius at Pace Gallery. The works create intricate visual patterns and geometric shapes using unique, web-based, live programming inspired by “organic and biological structures and celestial events.” Each NFT is distinct and in a continuous, non-repeating motion.
“I’ve been working with code for over 20 years, and creating custom software that I use to create light patterns and sequences,” said Villareal. “When I began learning about generative art, NFTs, and Web 3, I became very intrigued because it’s very close to what I was doing, except it doesn’t manifest itself as a light sculpture. It’s purely digital.”
Villareal and ArtBlocks, another digital art platform, launched Cosmic Reef in January, and cosmologies were brought underway. Each mint of Cosmic Bloom will have been selected by Villareal to ensure that each reflects his vision for the series, in contrast to its predecessor, which was purely generative, with each separate NFT randomly created from live code.
“There is definitely a relationship between the two projects,” the artist said. “Still, Cosmic Bloom has its aesthetic. It’s centered and radial. We were drawing from the geometry of flowers, studying fertility and the division of cells. It almost feels like you’re witnessing a creation myth.”
Villareal is best known for two enormous public works of art. The Bay Lights, a 1.8-mile-long project, were mounted to the San Francisco Bay Bridge in 2013. On four of the bridges spanning London’s River Thames, he unveiled Illuminated River in 2019, a massive array of LED lights emphasizing the connection between the bridge’s architecture and the river below. Five additional bridges were added to the project in 2021.
Illuminated River is reputed to be the world’s longest public art commission; it spans 3.2 miles. Cosmic Bloom pre-orders began on Tuesday, December 6. Today, Thursday, December 8, marks its public release.