Virginia Fleck: Reclaimed Revelations
In an age defined by rapid consumption, Virginia Fleck’s work investigates the relationship between materiality and perception, urging a slower, embodied engagement with objects and space. Magical thinking — rooted in cultural superstitions and beliefs in unseen forces — plays a vital role in Fleck’s practice. By infusing her work with these notions, she taps into a collective cultural memory, where objects are not only functional but also symbolic. This connection between materiality and the metaphysical draws viewers into a space where the boundaries between the rational and the irrational blur, creating a heightened sensory experience that invites deeper contemplation.
Fleck was born in 1960 and raised in the last recognizable Irish enclave in New York City, where Catholic doctrine, miracles, and superstition profoundly shaped her worldview. The apocalyptic drama and sensory intensity of Catholic Mass informed her earliest encounters with ritual and belief, forging a deep-rooted engagement with magical thinking — an influence that permeates her artistic investigations into perception and material symbolism.
Fleck’s practice is rooted in the belief that our senses serve as a gateway to our innate knowledge — our original place of knowing. She creates intricately crafted sensory objects and environments from post-consumer materials imbued with notions of luck, chance, and magical thinking. The resulting artworks draw on baroque aesthetics that resonate with symbolism and transcend the original utility of the materials; sparkling chains of can tabs and safety pins transform into oversized, shimmering chandeliers that generate mesmerizing moiré patterns. Metal bingo cages, bingo chips, and raffle drums are retooled into hand-cranked sound baths and luck generators, each with a unique sonic signature.
Fleck attended art school briefly as a young adult and holds no formal degrees (Portland School of Art, 1978-79, and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, 1986-88). In 1988, she began training in massage therapy, energy work, and breath work, practicing these healing modalities for 30 years alongside her full-time studio art practice. Above all else, performing this healing work has profoundly influenced the nature and direction of Fleck’s studio practice.
Virginia Fleck’s work has been widely exhibited across the United States and Europe. Her work has been featured in international art fairs and solo exhibitions including Women and Their Work Gallery and Northern-Southern Gallery (Austin, TX), Finesilver Gallery (Houston, TX), and Holly Johnson Gallery (TX), Blue Star Art Museum (San Antonio TX). She has received recognition through grants, awards, and residencies, including Connemara Conservancy (Dallas, TX), Stone Quarry Hill Sculpture Park (Cazenovia, NY), and Espacio Aglutinador (Havana, Cuba). Her art is held in the collections of Casa Golinelli Museum (Bologna, Italy), the US Embassy in Kigali (Rwanda), Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle, WA), and at the headquarters of Whole Foods and Facebook in Austin, TX. Fleck has earned two CODA awards for her Public Art, been named Best Individual Artist by the Austin Critics Table Awards and was invited as a guest artist at San Francisco’s Exploratorium.
Her work has been reviewed in publications including American Craft Magazine, Public Art Review, Sculpture Magazine, Metropolitan Home, Western Interiors and Design, and Glasstire.
Exhibitions Sponsors
