Celebrating Diversity in Art

Randy Klein, studio, artist, sculpture, painting

The artist’s studio

My life drawing tutor at City College of New York said it to me a very long time ago. “The thing for you, Klein, is to stay alive.” Now that I have followed his instruction, I can begin or see what he was getting at. For some artists, it is a matter of getting your head down, digging along a continuous seam in the silver mine. The work doesn’t change, it might get larger, more detailed, more accomplished. But the end result resembles the beginning. I think now that Mr. Oocheridan at CCNY was referring to the transitions in my art, the diversity of approach which makes it hard to see the unifying pattern in the work. Only over time and with the patient eye, will they be revealed.

Randy Klein, xar, road, man driving, Klein, sculpture, painting, art

Road Man, 2014

Now, after working as a professional artist for 35 years, the line which runs through all of my work is revealing itself more and more. Just this week, preparing for an Open Studio, I came across works done at the beginning of my career, and looked at them alongside the most recent pieces. Suddenly, it didn’t matter whether the work was done with card, cutout paper, bronze, or oil paint. The work tells a story, and here that story was delineating itself for me. There was a thread of ‘Magic Realism’ in all of it, a sense of the everyday lifted up into a glowing intensity, in colour and form of striking luminosity. There was a play of 3 dimensions versus 2 dimensions, so that sculptures seemed to flatten themselves and paintings seemed to grow into space beyond the wall. The result is a continuum between the image and the object so that illusion and physical presence are continually at play. And all of these technical attributes seem to work together to embrace a narrative, to go beyond the structure and touch on a story, establishing a relationship with the spiritual.

The work ends up having a lightness in spite of its structural solidity. The dialogue which is established with the responsive viewer is one of emotion, and the experience at its best points toward the divine within us.

Wind

Needless to say, this is one heck of a trademark to promote, and will never fit into the ‘high concept’ type of work, which can be encapsulated in two sentences, and which doesn’t have to actually be seen to be understood. However this insistence on seeing the work itself, on direct experience where the physical nature of the work of art can continuously transform itself into a story of spirituality in the everyday, is an ideal worth working for.

Lately, my task in the studio seems to be one of ‘filling in the gaps’. When a new work succeeds, it seems to form another link between these diverse approaches and techniques. The joins are getting stronger, and the line which holds it together is becoming clearer. The exhibition I am creating right now, perhaps my 35th solo exhibition, is a milestone for me on this path, but a fluid one. I feel certain this work will continue.

Have a look at what cleaning up your studio can do.

Paper, Scissors, Stone

New work by Randy Klein

Nunhead Corner Gallery

6-12 October

Private view

Wednesday 8 October 6:30 – 8:30 pm

26 Nunhead Green London SE15 3PQ

rafkleinart

Paper Scissors Stone