Paul Villinski Explained

Paul Villinski (born 1960) is an American sculptor best known for his large-scale installations of individual butterflies made from aluminum cans found on the streets on New York City. “A pilot of sailplanes, paragliders and single-engine airplanes,[1] metaphors of flight and soaring often appear in his work. With a lifelong concern for environmental issues, his work frequently re-purposes discarded materials.”[2] He is represented in New York by Morgan Lehman Gallery.

Biography

Paul Villinski has created large-scale artworks since the mid-eighties. Villinski was born in York, Maine, in 1960, son of an Air Force navigator. He has lived and worked in New York City since 1982. He briefly attended Phillips Exeter Academy and the Massachusetts College of Art, and graduated with a BFA with honors from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1984. He lives and works in Long Island City, New York, alongside his partner, painter Amy Park, and their son Lark.[3]

Works

Villinski is best known for his sculptural wall works. In the early nineties he began collecting discarded beer cans and cutting them into butterfly shapes.[4] His wall works utilize hundreds of individually cut butterflies mounted into different organic compositions. He has also developed works to include other motifs of flight including bird sculptures, first made from abandoned record albums found after Hurricane Katrina.[5] Later he transformed his entire record collection into artworks.[6] Much of Villinski's work, including his butterfly sculptures and Comforter (1994), grapple with the artist's struggle with addiction and substance abuse.[7]

Emergency Response Studio

Villinski created a mobile artist studio by salvaging a Federal Emergency Management Agency-style trailer and transforming it into a mobile, sustainable live/work space.[8] His intent was that the trailer be used to house displaced artists or enable artists to be dispatched into post-disaster contexts. The work was created after a visit to post-Katrina New Orleans.[9] The project was first exhibited at Prospect.1 New Orleans, the largest international biennial of contemporary art ever organized in the U.S. up until that point in 2008.[10] The trailer was later a subject of a solo exhibition at Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas and travelled to Ballroom Marfa, in Marfa, Texas; Wesleyan University's Zilkha Gallery; and Middletown, Connecticut, and participated in the New Museum's "Festival of Ideas for the New City", in New York City.

Exhibitions

His work has been included in numerous exhibitions nationally, including:

Public works

The New York Percent for Art program has commissioned "SkyCycles," three full-scale "flying bicycles" to be installed at Ocean Breeze, a new parks and recreation track and field facility located on Staten Island.[28] The City of New Haven Percent for Art Program commissioned “Dreamdesk,” a flying school desk with 18’ wingspan which was installed at the entrance to the East Rock Magnet School in 2014.[29]

Collections

Villinski is collected by many public, private, and corporate institutions and individuals, including:

Corporate collections include Fidelity Investments, Microsoft, Progressive Insurance, the Cleveland Clinic, ADP, McCann Erickson International, New York Life, and Ritz-Carlton.

Recognitions, awards, and residencies

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Little. Elizabeth. Powered by the Air Over the Hudson Valley. 11 June 2015. The New York Times. The New York Times. 21 September 2007.
  2. Web site: Paul Villinski. Morgan Lehman Gallery. 11 June 2015.
  3. Web site: Biography. Artnet. 11 June 2015.
  4. News: Battaglia. Andy. Artist's Metamorphosis Takes Flight in Chelsea. 11 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. 1 October 2014.
  5. Web site: Paul Villinski: Burst. The McNay Museum. 11 June 2015.
  6. News: Getlen. Larry. A Tower-ing Work of Art. 11 June 2015. New York Post.
  7. Web site: Doyon . Marie . Market Street Studio: Artists Amy Park and Paul Villinski Alight in Ellenville . Chronogram . 14 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220128134940/https://www.chronogram.com/hudsonvalley/market-street-studio-artists-amy-park-and-paul-villinski-alight-in-ellenville/Content?oid=14707383 . 28 January 2022 . 20 January 2022 . live.
  8. Web site: Kiniry. Laura. Trailer (Re)Made. Make-Digital.com. Make Magazine.
  9. Web site: Paul Villinski: Emergency Response Studio. ricegallery.org. Rice University Art Gallery. 11 June 2015.
  10. Web site: Prospect 1. New Orleans. prospectneworleans.org. 11 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150509190400/http://www.prospectneworleans.org/past-prospects-p1/. 9 May 2015. dead.
  11. Web site: Paul Villinski: Lift. austinartprojects.com. Austin Art Projects. 11 June 2015.
  12. Web site: Paul Villinski: Burst. The McNay Museum. 11 June 2015.
  13. News: New Piece at McNay Art Museum. 11 June 2015. KSAT12. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150619175825/http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat/news/2014/08/06/new-piece-at-mcnay-art-museum.html. 19 June 2015.
  14. News: Battaglia. Andy. Artist's Metamorphosis Takes Flight in Chelsea. 11 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. 1 October 2014.
  15. Web site: Gauss. Daniel. Butterfly Machine: Paul Villinski at Morgan Lehman Gallery. artefuse.com. Art Fuse Magazine. 11 June 2015.
  16. Web site: Paul Villinski: Paradigm. morganlehmangallery.com. Morgan Lehman Gallery. 11 June 2015.
  17. Web site: Re: Collection. madmuseum.org. Museum of Arts and Design. 11 June 2015.
  18. Web site: Material Transformations. mmfa.org. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. 11 June 2015.
  19. Web site: Making Mends. bellevuearts.org. Bellevue Arts Museum.
  20. News: 'Passage' fits scale of Blanton's Atrium. 11 June 2015. Austin 360. 19 November 2011.
  21. Web site: Paul Villinski: Passage. blantonmuseum.org. Blanton Museum of Art. 11 June 2015.
  22. News: Genocchio. Benjamin. Taking Conceptual Art on the Road. 11 June 2015. The New York Times. The New York Times. 16 October 2009.
  23. Web site: Streetfest: Emergency Response Studio. newmuseum.org. New Museum Ideas City. 11 June 2015.
  24. News: Jackson. Candace. Running on Empty: Artists explore abandoned spaces. 11 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. 15 January 2015.
  25. Web site: Paul Villinski: Emergency Response Studio. ricegallery.org. Rice University Art Gallery. 11 June 2015.
  26. News: MacCash. Doug. International Contemporary Art Exhibit to open in N.O.. The Times-Picayune. 13 October 2008.
  27. News: Gurewitsch. Matthew. On West 53rd Street, MoMa Has No Monopoly on Art. 11 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. 14 February 2008.
  28. Web site: Highlights from AIR Alumni Paul Villinski. www.airserenbe.com. 11 June 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150619175229/http://www.airserenbe.com/news/2014/2/24/highlights-from-air-alum-paul-villinski. 19 June 2015.
  29. News: Bailey. Melissa. Flying Desk Wins. 11 June 2015. New Haven Independent. 2 August 2011.
  30. Web site: Paul Villinski. madmuseum.org. 11 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150619175252/http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=searchrequest&moduleid=2&profile=people&currentrecord=1&searchdesc=Paul%20Villinski&style=single&rawsearch=constituentid%2F%2C%2Fis%2F%2C%2F2734%2F%2C%2Ffalse%2F%2C%2Ftrue. 19 June 2015. dead.
  31. News: Browning. Dominique. A Collection in Need of Definition. 11 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal. 10 December 2008.
  32. Web site: Site Specific Projects - North Terminal - Gate D19. miami-airport.com. Miami International Airport.
  33. Web site: New hospitals to feature museum-quality art collection. uofmhealth.org. University of Michigan. 11 June 2015.
  34. Web site: Highlights from AIR Alumni Paul Villinski. www.airserenbe.com. 11 June 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150619175229/http://www.airserenbe.com/news/2014/2/24/highlights-from-air-alum-paul-villinski. 19 June 2015.
  35. Web site: programs & highlights. serenbeinstitute.com. Serenbe Institute. 11 June 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150619175712/http://www.serenbeinstitute.com/docs/SerenbeInst2010digital.pdf. 19 June 2015.
  36. Web site: Paul Villinski: Waste Not, Want Not. socratessculpturepark.org. Socrates Sculpture Park. 11 June 2015.
  37. Web site: Alumni List. ucrossfoundation.org. Ucross Foundation. 11 June 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150611023040/http://www.ucrossfoundation.org/residency-program/alumni-list/visual-arts. 11 June 2015. dead.
  38. Web site: Visual Artists. https://web.archive.org/web/20080821075554/http://millaycolony.org/visual_artists. dead. 21 August 2008. millaycolony.org. Millay Colony for the Arts. 11 June 2015.

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