Engulfment by Teresa Wilson has been selected for The Fold exhibition at Virga Gallery.
Engulfment 2022. Textile, Mixed Media, Distressed Blanket, Tap Shoes.
Engulfment materializes the haunting, philosophical landscape of Gilles Deleuze’s The Fold. Reduced to a vulnerable, animalistic scale, to the size of a dog, the human form hangs suspended over an unyielding metal pole, trapped in a breathless transition between the physical world and a silent interiority. Enveloped in decaying, layered wool, the figure is slowly consumed by the swirling remnants of life. Outside this arena of mystical experience sit a pair of discarded tap shoes. Once vibrant symbols of human joy and social creativity, they remain grounded while the figure hovers, levitating into the sublime. Through these heavy, cascading fabrics, Engulfment manifests the “spongey, cavernous shapes” of the Baroque. Here, matter spills into space, blurring the boundary between the external “pleats of Matter” and the secret “folds of the soul.” Deleuze envisions these continuous levels of existence as a living dermis—a sensitive skin that wraps the animal soul. The sculpture becomes a fragile testament to these pulsating states of being, where the lines separating the body, the fabric, and the psychological depths completely dissolve into the infinite pleats of existence.
The Fold
An International virtual exhibition curated by Dr Jane Boyer for Virga Gallery.
This exhibition is inspired by the philosophical framework of Gilles Deleuze, particularly his essay The Fold, and the wider thinking that emerges from his engagement with Leibniz, Baroque architecture, interiority, multiplicity, and the continuous surface of experience.
The Fold is not merely a visual motif. It is a condition.
For Deleuze, The Fold describes:
- interior and exterior as continuous rather than opposed.
- matter and thought as endlessly inflecting one another.
- subjectivity as layered, pleated, and in process.
- the world as something that bends, curves, gathers and disperses.
Public Programme
The exhibition will include:
- A virtual launch event.
- Online symposium exploring contemporary artistic practice through philosophical frameworks.
- Recorded conversations and discursive contributions from participating artists.
Why This Matters
Virga Gallery is conceived as an international, discursive, and critically engaged platform for artists working across boundaries. This inaugural collaboration with [c]CC Art School affirms our commitment to collective visibility, shared inquiry, and intellectual generosity.
The Fold is not a closed concept. It is a living one.
We invite you to bend it.