Brief Bio
Debby and Larry Kline are collaborative artists, whose works have been featured in many solo exhibitions, including Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (San Francisco), California Center for the Arts Museum, La Casa del Tunel Art Center (Tijuana), Southwestern College Art Gallery, UCSD Cross Cultural Center Gallery, Mesa College Art Gallery and Athenaeum Music and Arts Library. Group exhibitions include Indiana State Museum, San Diego Art institute, Torrance Art Museum and Museum on the Seam (Israel), which involved traveling to Jerusalem and creating a one ton adobe structure on the roof of the museum as part of an exhibition of international environmental artists. Book credits include “The Artists Guide,” by Jackie Battenfield and “Design and Ethics: Reflections on Practice,” by Felton, Zelenko and Vaughan. The Klines participated in The Center for Land Use Interpretation’s residency program through a grant from UCIRA. They have also been awarded three grants from The Gunk Foundation, NY, and grants from Potrero Nuevo Fund, San Francisco, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles, and the 2013 San Diego Art Prize and Established Artist Grant. They were also featured in an Emmy Award winning episode of ArtPulse TV in 2014 and were awarded the Calzona Prize in 2016, winning a plot of land on the border of California and Arizona, to create earthworks relating to the formation of the Salton Sea. In 2018, they were awarded consecutive artist’s residencies at San Diego Natural History Museum, Torrance Art Museum and UCSD School of Medicine.
“So the Klines can be regarded as political artists, not in the dismal sense of advocating or lamenting one political policy or another, but of outrageously modeling discrepancies in our understandings of political situations. So they are hilarious political artists in the manner of Aristo-phanes rather than Brecht.” - David Antin writing for the 2013 San Diego Art Prize
“Pick up the Art San Diego schedule this year and you’ll see the names Debby and Larry Kline so many times, you might think there’s been some sort of mistake. The married couple, who collaborate on their multimedia conceptual- and performance-art projects, will have work featured in two exhibitor booths—Beyond the Border Gallery and the San Diego Art Prize space—they’ll be doing multiple performances, giving a talk and leading tours through the fair as roving docents. The ubiquity of the Klines is a good thing, giving visitors a chance to get a grasp on the depth, diversity and myriad political provocations of their work,” San Diego CityBeat
“The Klines work shines in its use of sly humor as a starting point for a discussion or commentary on the issues of our day.” – www.resonantcity.net
“The Klines are light-hearted enough to discuss every day ponderings, like the status of their local weather but they eat, breathe, and live for the juicy and uncomfortable realities of our world.” - Creative Little Monsters
“US/Middle East policy, military might makes right, and the health care system as big business are all candidates for brutal scrutiny in this cavalcade of social and political commentary. Adept sculptures. Fascinating use of materials. Provocative gestures. On the whole, an impressive endeavor.” – www.artbusiness.com