Virginia Fleck, Texas Sculpture Group

From Austin, Texas

Artist Statement:

For two decades, I have created ecologically conscious artworks that reveal the hidden beauty of disposable items that continually pass through our hands. Currently my focus is making sensory artworks from aluminum can-tabs from beverage cans. The glacial pace of making artwork from thousands of can-tabs, many from sodas and energy drinks meant to speed us up, is a deliberate contrast to all that is instantaneous. 

My artworks made from can-tabs have a baroque, upcycled aesthetic that playfully transcends the utility of the tabs, and explores the intersection of consumerism, ecology, and sensory healing. When my recent, motorized, suspended sculptures begin to rotate, shimmering moiré patterns appear and soothe with soft glimmers, activating a visual sensory experience that brings us back to center. Our sensory impressions determine the quality of our thoughts and emotions and provide a healing counterpoint to our reality of overstimulation.

Artist Biography:

Since 2002, award winning artist Virginia Fleck, has been creating ecologically conscious artworks from post-consumer materials, unearthing the hidden beauty of disposable items that continually pass through our hands.

Fleck’s work has been commissioned for the permanent collections of the US Embassy in Rwanda, the Marino Golinelli collection in Bologna, Italy, Whole Foods World Head Quarters in Austin, TX, Facebook Austin, TX, NYU Langone Hospital in NYC, Dell Children's Hospital in Austin, TX.