I always love the chance to see some really cool art displays while I adventure about in New York City and so far there have been a couple of times to do this over in Madison Square Park. The latest installation is called “Buckyball” which is the creation of artist Leo Villareal. I’ve copied the signage text just below its image.
Madison Square Art is pleased to present BUCKBALL, a new large-scale work by world-renowned light installation artist Leo Villareal. Referencing theorist and engineer Buckminster Fuller, the work’s two nested geodesic spheres are comprised of 180 LED-tubes arranged in a series of pentagons and hexagons that contain thousands of individual pixels capable of displaying 16 million distinct colors. Controlled by custom software designed by the artist, the 30-foot tall illuminated sculpture animates Madison Square Park’s natural landscape with dynamic, random light sequences of varied color, opacity, speed and scale.
Zero gravity couches, first conceived by the artist in 1991, are placed at the base of the sculpture to allow viewers to gather and contemplate the artwork. The couches and sculptural aspects of the installation reference elements of the part and add a physcial and temporal dimension to the viewer’s multisensory experience of BUCKYBALL.
At the time of this posting, I did not snare any images of the couches since people were relaxing on them and it was dark (add to that I was running late for a concert down the block). If I happen by the spot again I will add a couple of photos of them to the end of this posting. For now just please indulge in the cool lighted sculpture. I really liked this one since it was very Science-Fiction and technology based. I mostly aimed at getting some different colors as best as I could under the conditions. Good stuff. Here we go.
These photos were snapped using the trusty sidearm Sony Cybershot and the Panasonic Lumix. So be sure to come and check this out if you are in the Big Apple between now and February 1st 2013 because after that it will be gone to make room for another cool display. I hope you enjoyed this bit of coolness as I love sharing the sights from my area with you all.
Official Website: http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/art
Official Website: http://villareal.net/