New Orleans Art Gallery All Aflutter Over Paul Villinski’s Butterflies

For the next three weeks, the white walls of Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans will be host to a kaleidoscope of butterflies courtesy of New York-based artist Paul Villinski.

Paul has created studio and large-scale artworks for more than thirty years. The son of an Air Force navigator, and an experienced pilot himself, Paul’s enduring passion for flight is referenced throughout his work, beautifully and poetically.

“I’m not alone in this: from Leonardo to Lindbergh to Lenny Kravitz, the desire to “fly away” has had a grip on our collective imagination for millennia. Now and then, I have the extraordinary luck to spend a few hours floating along on currents of warm air, the earth’s surface slipping silently by, the mundane anxieties of daily life thousands of feet below the long, white wings of my glider. Back in the studio, I wish I could bring everyone I’ve ever met along in the tiny cockpit of my sailplane. Instead, I look for forms to describe the longing to enter the sky, to get us all aloft, even from within the confines of the gallery.”

Paul’s work is not only pleasing to the eye, it’s environmentally conscious. Discarded materials such as scrap metal, wood, and unwanted vinyl records are frequently re-purposed to create his thoughtful sculptures. All of the delicate butterflies you see below were crafted from aluminium cans – an unequivocal metaphor of metamorphosis.

‘Departure‘ will be on view until 26th December 2015.