"AUSTIN, Texas — Dell Medical School at The University of Texas will be the new home of Paul Villinski’s ethereal sculpture, 'Passage,' a floating wood and metal sculpture on loan to Dell Med from the Blanton Museum of Art. The installation process begins this Thursday at the school’s Health Learning Building as the centerpiece of its five-story glass-encased atrium space.

'In conversations with students, we have talked about how the two major elements of butterflies and airplane suggest a relationship between nature and technology, and how medicine engages information from both domains,' said Ray Williams, the Blanton’s director of education and academic affairs, who has focused on 'Passage' when teaching Dell Med students.

'The spiraling butterflies, lifting and supporting the incomplete machine, evoke the power and inevitability of nature, even amidst the pursuit of new technologies,' Williams explained."

From The Taubman Museum: "Paul Villinski: Farther will survey developments in Villinski's practice over the past decade, as well as publicly debut multiple new works direct from the artist's New York studio. The sculptures and installations of Paul Villinski engage with subjects both sublime and neglected. Influenced by a life-long concern for environmental issues, his work transforms seemingly useless and discarded materials -- often trash found on the streets of New York City -- into uplifting and humanizing works of art. Flocks of aluminum-can butterflies, wings feathered with lost gloves, and fantastical flying machines evoke motifs of flight, metamorphosis and rebirth. These themes inform a visual language which Villinski uses to explore the many contradictions of human experience." The exhibition is curated by Amy Moorefield, Deputy Director of Exhibitions and Collections, Taubman Museum of Art and will be on display June 16, 2017 – January 21, 2018.

From the exhibition press release: "'Bedazzled' implies amazement, to be overwhelmed to the point of confusion; going beyond our senses and reason. This lush exhibition of 43 artists includes work that seduces with glitz and glamour, and allures with a sense of magic and mystery. The exhibition presents a broad range of media—painting, installation, sculpture, printmaking, and digital media—that entice the viewer, while blurring the boundaries between the aesthetic experience and enchantment... The exhibition highlights optics, ornament, surfaces, light, mirroring, pattern, repetition, abstraction, and geometry." 

The artists represented in the exhibition are themselves a bedazzling array of famous names, mid-career artists and freshly emerging local talents, whose colorful and provocative works play with and illuminate each other. The artists in the exhibition are: El Anatsui, Radcliffe Bailey, Nancy Blum, Paul Corio, Katherine Daniels, Evie Falci, Vibha Galhotra, Ori Gersht, Damien Hirst, Jessica Johnson, Joyce Kozloff, Robert Kushner, James Lecce, Chris Leidy, Crystal Liu, Nancy Lorenz, Liza Lou, Susie MacMurray, Armando Marino, Sasha Meret, Betriz Milhazes, Marilyn Minter, Melissa “MRS” Castignoli, Paula Nadelstern, Eva Obodo, Caitlin Peluffo, Rubem Robierb, Carlos Rolón/Dzine, James Rosenquist, Michelle Sakhai, Nancy Saleme, Holly Sears, David Shaw, Devan Shimoyama, Rachel Stern, Megan Suttles, Barbara Takenaga, Mickalene Thomas, Federico Uribe, Paul Villinski, Stephen Westfall, Saya Woolfalk, and Robert Zakanitch.

Curated by Bartholomew F. Bland. Opening reception Wednesday, October 5, 2016, from 6:00 - 8:00pm. 

"In a provocative display that incorporates contemporary art, relics from the natural world, and items of material culture, the forthcoming exhibition The Nest, an exhibition of art in nature, examines the exquisite beauty and profound symbolism of the nest in art and culture. Drawing its inspiration from the extraordinary form of the bird’s nest, the exhibition examines how the fundamental drive to gather, assemble, and create is a function of both nature and the artistic process.

The exhibition features a selection of real birds’ nests from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History collection, one of the most extensive and significant in North America. Works by fifteen contemporary artists—whose practices encompass sculpture, painting, collage, photography, and video—examine the life of birds, as well as the concept of the nest as metaphor of home, birth, protection, and the human body. Drawing from the intersection of nature and technology, bird cams appear on monitors installed throughout the galleries, introducing a view of live birds into the context of natural materials and art objects. Artists in the exhibition include Sharon Beals, Sanford Biggers, Dove Bradshaw, Björn Braun, John Burtle, Shiela Hale, Porky Hefer, Nina Katchadourian, Louise Lawler, Judy Pfaff, James Prosek, Kiki Smith, Andreas Sterzing, Paul Villinski, and David Wojnarowicz."

Ritual & Residue: The Art of Drink focuses on rituals formed around tea, coffee, beer, wine and bourbon and the residue left behind. These beverages, created by humans, have inspired countless cultural traditions from decorative vessels to social gatherings. Whether habit, necessity, or custom, consuming beverages is often a community endeavor.  In contemporary life, ideas are shared over a cup of coffee, friends meet at the bar, and a sip of bourbon unites an entire state in camaraderie. 

"Material Transformations"

January 25 - April 6, 2014

Organized by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama.

September 14, 2013 - January 5, 2014

The artists of Material Transformations, Angela Ellsworth, Alison Foshee, Johnston Foster, Kirsten Hassenfeld, Rune Olsen, Lucrecia Troncoso, and Paul Villinski all find symbolism in the very unconventional substances they use to construct their works of art. They find inspiration in the stuff of life, items we frequently encounter, use, and discard with rarely a second thought such as aluminum cans, cleaning sponges, construction debris, corsage pins, masking tape, office supplies, and wrapping paper. . .

Flora Fauna Art Design is a stroll through the natural world, as seen through the eyes of artists working in glass, ceramics, metal, fiber, and wood. From insects and birds to trees and flowers, this exhibition is a lively and engaging look at Mother Nature at her best. In addition to works from the permanent collection, promised gifts and loans will be included. Artists presented in the exhibition include: Lino Tagliapietra, Paul Stankard, Ted Muehling, Eddie Dominguez, Carol Eckert, and Pedro Friedeberg.

Save Saturday, May 7 for the “innovative, minimal-waste” outdoor StreetFest, which will take place along the Bowery. “This is not a street fair for tube socks and sandwiches,” said Bob Holman, founder of the Bowery Potery Club. Expect local organizations presenting their wares, urban farmers offering cooking demos beneath innovative tented modules, exciting eats, and “outdoor living rooms.” Finally, the entire weekend will be a showcase for approximately 100 independent projects, exhibitions, and performances all over downtown. A few that caught our eye: the Art Production Fund, in partnership with Sotheby’s, will brighten up the dingy rolling gates of local businesses with murals by the likes of Glenn Ligon and Lawrence Weiner, artist Paul Villinski will welcome visitors to his Gulfstream trailer-turned-solar-powered mobile art studio, and Mott Street’s Church of the Transfiguration will host an all-night Pecha Kucha with a creative urban theme. Holman summed it up nicely: “It sounds like a party to me.”

Villinski recently created a large butterfly installation for the hit Warner Brothers TV show “Gossip Girl”, which will be featured throughout the upcoming Season 4. The piece, comprised of more than 200 smoke-black butterflies, is installed over the bed in lead character Serena’s (played by Blake Lively) room. The set will be “revealed” during the broadcast Monday, Sept 27, 2010.