National Gallery

National Gallery

Leo Villareal Multiverse

We look through a tunnel lined with dozens of strings of bright white lights nestled in silver-gray slats that zoom away from us in this horizontal photograph. At the far end of the tunnel, at the center of the photograph, the alternating lines of lights and slats almost come together around a narrow, capsule-shaped area of golden yellow light. The flat ceiling curves down to meet the wall to our left. The curve continues to make a C-shape before extending straight down the remaining height of the wall, turning the profile of the open space into a backward-facing P. Some of the lights are bright, some fading, and some are off to create a loose pattern of dark squares floating in a field of light. The lights seem brighter at the far end of the tunnel. The overall impact of the view is a starburst radiating in diagonal lines, coming from a point at the center of the photograph.