Paul Villinski

Paul Villinski, one of my favorite artists, is rumored to be coming to Chelsea next month. Cross your fingers. Villinski creates lovely installation pieces from found cans, gardening gloves, and old vinyl records. The work shown above is an installation piece that he created using beer cans gathered from the streets of New York. See? Lovely.

And despite the quick punch (transformation, recovery, metamorphosis) Villinski is a thinker. He works with an environmentally focused mantra and thinks big... entire cities big. His ideas work to initiate change in places like post-Katrina New Orleans and the industrial wastelands of Queens.

He also aims to bridge the barrier between earth and sky, wing and wind. And because of these grand views and focused initiatives, his butterflies suddenly hold weight and depth despite their cliched past. His dirty gloves reek of longing and his wings flap with purpose.

I like him. He knows what he's doing. And I hope to glimpse him soon.