Larry and Debby Kline artists and provocateurs – installation, performances, and other works

Posts Tagged ‘Art and science’
ENVZN24 – The New Age of Enlightenment meets Fashion Week San Diego!!!
ENVZN24 - The New Age of Enlightenment meets Fashion Week San Diego!!!

ENVZN24 paired our latest work, “The New Age of Enlightenment,” with San Diego Fashion Week! This piece is one of the largest 3D Printed artworks that we have seen and it invited lots of public interaction, including hundreds of new messages placed inside the Buddha column by visitors. We will post these ‘hopes and dreams for the future’ on social media daily.

San Diego Union Tribune, “ENVZN Urban Art Takeover features multi-sensory art,” Aug. 30, 2023.
San Diego Union Tribune, “ENVZN Urban Art Takeover features multi-sensory art,” Aug. 30, 2023.

Susanna Peredo Swap talks about the ENVZN 23 Urban Art Takeover, transforming two city blocks into a showcase for film, theater, dance, visual arts and music, from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border:

“Debby and Larry Kline‘s piece is installed in a screen printing shop, transforming the space. It talks about over-consumption and recycling and the cycle of living trash. It’ll be like a temple.”

SDVisualArts.net, “ENVZN: A Very Special Event,” By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, August 18, 2023
SDVisualArts.net, “ENVZN: A Very Special Event,”  By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, August 18, 2023

The Klines’ Alchemist has appeared in different iterations in various locations. This newest version—now legless but taller than ever—will be surrounded by drawings that illustrate the four elements of the alchemical process: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. You’ll find him in a space that welcomes meditation, with a soulful soundscape by Tijuana-based multimedia music artist MALU and an offering bowl for you to share your hopes and dreams.

UC San Diego TODAY, “The Human Condition Affects Us All,” by Joyce Pritchett, July 12, 2023.
UC San Diego TODAY, “The Human Condition Affects Us All,” by Joyce Pritchett, July 12, 2023.

“Students have the unique opportunity to work with the Klines to practice life drawing of models and cadavers,” said Lee. “The goal of the class is to help students form an understanding of the human body that is wholly different from, yet may intersect and interact with, the clinical perspective.”

DiversionsLA, Excerpt from “Art Blossoms at Loft at Liz’s, Durden and Ray and More,” May 10, 2023.
DiversionsLA, Excerpt from "Art Blossoms at Loft at Liz’s, Durden and Ray and More," May 10, 2023.

Edgy and surreal, witty, and, well, expansive, the show includes an eight foot ink drawing (just one panel in a larger piece) by the Klines, “The Dark Side of the Moon (Phase 3)

Trifecta: Artist, Scientist, Patron exhibition tour video
Trifecta: Artist, Scientist, Patron exhibition tour video

“The Klines worked with Dr. Thiomas Albright, Chair of Vision Research at the Salk Institute, whose research is studying perceptions and our brain’s ability to fill in what it thinks it has seen. His research is finding that things like cultural expectations, personal bias and even religious beliefs have more impact on our perception than what we see with our own eyes.” This work also incorporates poetry by David Antin and Jerome Rothenberg, and readings by Eleanor Antin and Jerome Rothenberg.

The Alchemist in His Elements
The Alchemist in His Elements

The Alchemist is the original “maker”, an icon for a world that demands cheap, readily available material goods, without concern for the byproducts of manufacturing. But our relationship with industry is a complicated one. At its core, the Alchemist also represents our need to design, build and change our environment through understanding the principles that guide our world.

Project Extinction: J.J. Audubon’s Birds of America
Project Extinction: J.J. Audubon's Birds of America

Project Extinction is a series of drawings updating John Audubon‘s Birds of America. We are documenting the species that have since gone extinct since it’s publication, a continuation of a project that we started when we were artists in residence at the San Diego Museum of Natural History.

Joyce Cutler-Shaw Artists in Residence at UCSD School of Medicine
Joyce Cutler-Shaw Artists in Residence at UCSD School of Medicine

As the Joyce Cutler-Shaw Artists in Residence at UCSD School of Medicine, we are honored to have the opportunity to create artworks for display. We recently created/and or installed two large sculptures and one large drawing in the Biomedical Sciences building, each about 8 feet in height or length.

Medical Illustrations
Medical Illustrations

We have recently begun creating anatomical drawings. This is a new process for us, but we are working with anatomists to create approximately 100 drawings. It is an incredibly challenging and exciting process.

Three Phases of the Moon: A Cautionary Tale
Three Phases of the Moon: A Cautionary Tale

In the final panel, The Dark Side of the Moon, the Earth has become a defunct rock in the sky and rabbits, the victims of testing, have escaped and repopulated the moon, doomed to repeat the same mistakes as their human counterparts.

We’re Launching our Patreon Account! – www.patreon.com/jugglingklines
We're Launching our Patreon Account! - www.patreon.com/jugglingklines

We created a Patreon account so that people who love what we create can help support our work.

Art and Cake LA, “The Bird Is The Word,” by Kristine Schomaker, Jan. 18, 2022.
Art and Cake LA, “The Bird Is The Word,” by Kristine Schomaker, Jan. 18, 2022.

Audubon documented as many American birds that he could find in his lifetime. He was an avid hunter but appreciated the diversity, abundance and beauty of birds. He often would kill the birds, position them in such a manner that they looked alive and then document them in drawings and paintings. We picked up his pen and followed with images of birds that are now extinct.

SDVisualArts.net, “Seeking Truth & Other Science-Inspired Installations at La Jolla Historical Society,” By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, October 14, 2021
SDVisualArts.net, "Seeking Truth & Other Science-Inspired Installations at La Jolla Historical Society," By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, October 14, 2021

They’d created a kind of forced perspective—those tilted walls—and added competing sounds from multiple directions that were meant to be confusing, even a little disturbing—a demonstration of how distractions affect perception. The TRUTH carved into the granite slab was stippled to look blurry: the word appeared gradually in 15-minute cycles, then water jets washed it away. Dim lighting made things even more confusing, and I couldn’t hear myself in the cacophony of voices, recorded at a 2017 tribute to the late poet David Antin.

Seeking Truth
Seeking Truth

In SEEKING TRUTH, we present an architectural environment with visual and audible cues intended to make viewers feel unsettled or confused. A cacophony of sounds confronts viewers as they traverse the space. These sounds are derived from Cacophony and Utterances, a participatory piece that we created in memory of David Antin, performed at the Getty Center theater.

VoyageLA, “Art & Life with Larry and Debby Kline,” Jan. 21, 2019.
VoyageLA, “Art & Life with Larry and Debby Kline,” Jan. 21, 2019.

We create everything from large installations to micro-drawings. The materials that we use are always dictated by the idea, so our media ranges from the traditional like graphite, clay and paint to the unusual, such as fluorescent light bulbs, mud from the Dead Sea, ketchup and salt. Much of our work is a reflection on politics and social justice.

La Jolla Light,”20 artists reveal their beliefs in potent exhibit at Balboa Park,” By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, October 15, 2018.
La Jolla Light,"20 artists reveal their beliefs in potent exhibit at Balboa Park," By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, October 15, 2018.

The myth-master is Eleanor Antin, one of the founding members of UC San Diego’s Visual Arts Department, and an internationally-admired artist, or as the Klines put it: “an artist of the world.” Shown here is one of the pieces from her “Roman Allegories,” a series of large-scale photos staged in Del Mar and La Jolla that re-envision the last days of an ancient civilization remarkably similar to ours.

Art and Cake LA, “Beyond the Age of Reason at the San Diego Art Institute,” by Genie Davis, September 13, 2018.
Art and Cake LA, “Beyond the Age of Reason at the San Diego Art Institute,” by Genie Davis, September 13, 2018.

“Myth is open to interpretation, and unfortunately, so are truths, but they are still the underpinnings of religious belief. The nuances of belief can either unite or divide individual, families and nations. The nuances can lead to peace or more often, war,” the Klines relate. “We believe -pun intended – that the artists reflect the larger populace that struggles with the concept of belief.”

“Beyond the Age of Reason,” at San Diego Art Institute, curated by Debby and Larry Kline
"Beyond the Age of Reason," at San Diego Art Institute, curated by Debby and Larry Kline

San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park Presents: Beyond the Age of Reason
Dates: September 1–October 31, 2018
Member Reception: Saturday, September 15 from 5pm-6pm
Public Reception: Saturday, September 15 from 6pm-8pm
The museum is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10am-5pm, Wednesday 10am-8pm,
Saturday-Sunday 12pm-5pm

Art and Cake, “The Candy Store and Something Extra at Shoebox Projects,” By Genie Davis, June 24, 2018.
Art and Cake, "The Candy Store and Something Extra at Shoebox Projects," By Genie Davis, June 24, 2018.

The collaborative couple have created an astonishing installation work that is both political and beautiful; it is experiential and a passionate protest. Viewers here are participants shopping in this candy store, searching for a cure not just for our own sicknesses, but that of society.

San Diego Jewish World, “Science meets art at the Natural History Museum,” By Donald H. Harrison, March 26, 2018.
San Diego Jewish World, "Science meets art at the Natural History Museum," By Donald H. Harrison, March 26, 2018.

Artists Larry and Debby Kline have been involved in a pair of collaborations with scientists, including a current engagement as artists in residence at San Diego’s Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, where they are updating the work of 19th-century ornithologist John James Audubon’s “Birds of America” portfolio.

La Jolla Light, “In an ‘Extra-Ordinary Collusion’ Art/Science join forces for exhibit in Balboa Park,” by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, June 15, 2017.
La Jolla Light, “In an ‘Extra-Ordinary Collusion’ Art/Science join forces for exhibit in Balboa Park,” by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, June 15, 2017.

Navlakha uses algorithms to study similarities between biological and engineered networks, hoping to learn how to interrupt the progression of disease. The Klines use sensors to track which artworks in the exhibit hold visitors’ attention longest. Their installation includes video images of traffic patterns, networks of slime molds, herds of Pokemon Go players, and the artists, along with comfortable seating.

Picked RAW Peeled, “June Round-UP,” by Patricia Frischer, June 18, 2017.
Picked RAW Peeled, “June Round-UP,” by Patricia Frischer, June 18, 2017.

I am not even going to try to explain the relationship and subjects of all these collaborations between artists and scientist. Works about cancer and aging were prevalent. Some of the artists developed a great connection and collaboration. others were truly just inspired by the research of the scientists. But the quality of the artists chosen to participate was so high, that the show is a winner.

San Diego Home and Garden Lifestyles, “A Fine Line: The Force of Fields,” by Ramin Skibba, June 2017.
San Diego Home and Garden Lifestyles, "A Fine Line: The Force of Fields," by Ramin Skibba,  June 2017.

Artists collaborated with scientists from the Salk Institute for works to be included in the exhibition titled Extra-Ordinary Collusions at San Diego Art Institute. Debby and Larry Kline learn[ed] about plant symmetry and fractals from Saket Navlakha.