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

Posts Tagged ‘environmental art’
The Malashock Dance troupe performing with the Alchemist at ENVZN23 Urban Arts Takeover.
The Malashock Dance troupe performing with the Alchemist at ENVZN23 Urban Arts Takeover.

We were thrilled to be part of this visual and performing arts festival that transformed warehouses, industrial spaces, and other urban areas of the Commercial Street corridor in Logan Heights. Two full city blocks were activated with multi-sensory art interventions by creatives from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. Here is the Malashock Dance troupe tearing it up at ENVZN23 Urban Arts Takeover. The Alchemist is pleased.

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.

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)

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.

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.

Art and Cake LA, “Disclosure: Art Redemption through Confession,” By Genie Davis, Jan. 31, 2019.
 Art and Cake LA, “Disclosure: Art Redemption through Confession,” By Genie Davis, Jan. 31, 2019.

Debby and Larry Kline play prophet by mapping impending tragedy for the planet. The large scale ink on paper work is lush and dramatic, referencing Biblical plagues as they foretell natural and man-made disasters. The work, “Prayer Rug: Be Not Afraid” is a massive 49 by 94 inches.

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.

Art and Cake, “Studio Systems II at Torrance Art Museum: Half-Time,” by Larry Gipe, June 18, 2018.
Art and Cake, "Studio Systems II at Torrance Art Museum: Half-Time," by Larry Gipe, June 18, 2018.

Debby and Larry Kline take on the social and environmental issues of the day in a variety of projects including Tiny Revolutions (pictured here) – small pencil on paper works that pack a big punch. A chalkboard on site lists the myriad pieces that are underway.

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.

Tiny Revolutions
Tiny Revolutions

We have decided to create an “act of defiance” each day in the form of Tiny Revolutions, very small hand-drawn graphite images ranging in size from ½” x ½” to 2 ½” x 2 ½.” Their size is dictated by the possibility that a day may come when Americans cannot freely voice dissent.

The Artist’s Odyssey, “Artists and Provocateurs Debby and Larry Kline,” by Barbarella Fokos, March 30, 2017.
 The Artist’s Odyssey, “Artists and Provocateurs Debby and Larry Kline,” by Barbarella Fokos, March 30, 2017.

We created “Cacophony and Utterances,” a participatory poem in two parts based on the artist’s own works. The first reading took place in the Getty Center theater, with hundreds of participants each reading one of five of David’s poems simultaneously. Through his words, a cacophonous wall of sound filled the theater.