Virginia Fleck
Glittering sculptures and installations, created by turning something ordinary into the extraordinary is no easy task, but Virginia Fleck’s work does just that! We love the juxtaposition of materials and how she has given new life into something we overlook daily. Working the the tabs from aluminum cans, she confronts consumerism and find a moment of joy and beauty in these disposable parts.
Fleck’s work has been exhibited at Art on Paper 2015 in NYC, Art Forum Berlin, Pulse Miami, Pulse New York, and Arte Fiera in Bologna, Italy. Her work appears in many prestigious collections including Facebook Austin TX, the permanent collection of the United States Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda and the Marino Golinelli collection in Bologna, Italy. Her work has been written about and reviewed on the web and in numerous paper publications including American Craft Magazine, Public Art Review, Sculpture Magazine, Metropolitan Home, Western Interiors and Design, Glasstire, Apartment Therapy.
She shares more about her work:
In 1993, I was at a metal scrapyard, seven months pregnant, on the look-out for rusty metal parts for an artwork, when I came upon a treasure-chest sized bin overflowing with gleaming aluminum can-tabs. The sight of these tabs separated from the cans, sparkling in the bright sunlight was like a mirage among the rusted scrap. Overcome by the unexpected beauty, I traded the few dollars crumpled in the pocket of my maternity dress for a bucket of sparkly tabs. For the rest of my pregnancy I created long chains of these tabs that would eventually become sparkling ethereal artworks. The repetitive act of connecting and counting the tabs was prayerful and mindful work while I awaited the birth of my child.
In 2019 I appreciate how the glacial pace of making artwork from tabs lends itself to a meditative state. Chaining can-tabs is more mindful than mindless. The act of making this “slow art” is a deliberate contrast to all that is instantaneous in our lives.
My most recent work is the treasure series in which post-consumer can-tabs chained together with safety pins are layered and massed to create dense sparkling textures. These glittering pieces have the presence of valuable treasure, but closer inspection reveals that the artworks are made from tens of thousands of ordinary beverage can-tabs. The obsessive repetition, key to my process, exposes the compulsions of both the artist and the consumer, while revealing the beauty of disposable items that continually pass through our hands.
Fine her online at her website and Instragram
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