Leo Villareal

New York City

Leo Villareal is currently lighting up the underground at the uptown subway platform of the Bleecker Street 6 train in NYC with his installation Hive. This honeycomb-shaped network of LED lights is another example of Leo Villareal’s stunning work.

While mosaics are the traditional mode of New York City subway art, Hive better reflects the technology, speed, and intensity of city transportation through its constantly shifting colors and patterns. Villareal aptly based the piece on mathematician John Conway’s Game of Life, a mathematical model of oscillating patterns meant to simulate evolving life forms.

The project was commissioned by the MTA’s Arts for Transit, an initiative launched in 1985 to enhance the aesthetic experience of public transportation. Hive, which is designed to be as durable as the mosaics, will be permanently brightening east side commutes with its flux of colored lights.

Leo Villareal