An expansive monograph of work by acclaimed contemporary artist Leo Villareal, known for his monumental installations employing light and computer technology

Transforming pixels using the zeroes and ones of binary code into dazzling displays of light, Mexican-American artist Leo Villareal creates abstract installations that are icons of public art. Employing artist-created code and custom software, his innovative practice explores chance, rules, and the underlying structure of systems. 

Leo Villareal: Coding Light features more than 30 works ranging in scale – from exhibitions and immersive architectural commissions like Cosmos at Cornell University, to urban-scale artworks such as his seminal work, Illuminated River, which joins nine central-London bridges to illuminate the Thames with subtly shifting light patterns along the River Thames in London – and includes work from over two decades of the artist’s career.

‘A celebration of an artist whose algorithmic light installations have redefined public and digital art on a global scale. Moreover, it’s a love letter to the beauty of chance, the precision of rules, and the underlying structure of complex systems – showing that there’s often more to “light art” than meets the eye.’ – Aesthetica Magazine

Selected for J.P. Morgan's 2026 NextList

Leo Villareal is a contemporary Mexican American artist. His work is represented in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Japan, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others. He lives and works in New York.

Molly Donovan is curator of contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Annie Dell’Aria is associate professor of art history at Miami University in Oxford, OH.

Sarah Sze is a contemporary American artist based in New York.