Stick Paintings & Foliate Heads: Recent Artworks by John Kleckner

This presentation will feature recent paintings and drawings from two series that have emerged in John Kleckner's Berlin studio since the COVID-19 pandemic. One is a group of blurred landscapes with meticulously rendered sticks and colorful shapes floating in the foreground; the other is a series of stippled, ink self-portraits framed by flora and fungi. John Kleckner will trace the development of these artworks, exploring their themes of nature, solitude, mimesis, fragmentation, juxtaposition, and the passing of time. The audience will gain an understanding of John Kleckner's artistic practice as it has evolved over 20 years, leading up to pieces currently in progress. The actual art objects will be on display for close examination and critique.

John Kleckner is a visual artist working in painting, drawing, and collage and a professor of Studio Arts, Painting, & Drawing at Bard College Berlin. John is known for making finely detailed paintings, drawings, and collages that use mimesis, fragmentation, juxtaposition, synecdoche, and stylistic clashing to explore ideas and feelings about nature, resilience, solitude, perception, and balance. He has exhibited his artwork professionally since 2003, presenting 11 solo exhibitions at galleries in Athens, Berlin, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, Palermo, and Stockholm. His works are featured in prominent collections including, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Magasin 3 Konsthalle in Stockholm, Deste Foundation in Athens, the Miettinen Collection in Berlin, and the Saatchi Collection in London. He has exhibited in institutions such as the Athens Biennial in Greece, Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Castrum Peregrini in Amsterdam, CAPC Musée d’art Contemporain in Bordeaux, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Lissone, Kunstraum Innsbruck, the Marres Centre for Contemporary Culture in Maastricht, the Riso Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia in Palermo, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In 2021 he received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant, and in 2022 was among 3 finalists for the 26th Wilhelm Morgner Prize for painting in Soest, Germany. John has been teaching at Bard College Berlin since 2013.

This presentation is part of the Faculty Colloquium Series.

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For more information, e-mail [email protected].

Time: 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm CET/GMT+1

Location: P24 Seminar Room 8

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