Richard Klein
Cataract II, 1998, used eyeglasses and sunglasses, steel, solder, 46" x 31" x 25", Lent by the Artist; Courtesy of Caren Golden Fine Art, New York, NY
In the Middle Ages, practices of hydromancy (divination by water), catoptromancy (by mirrors), or crystallomancy (by crystal balls) were condemned by the Church on the grounds that they increased the powers of sight, allowing vices to enter and contaminate the soul. In his Polycratius, John of Salisbury attacked all polished and brilliant objects including the blades of swords, polished fingernails, and glass. Mathematician, philosopher, and scholar Michael Scotus warned of fortunes told in pools of water. The explanation was always the same: the refraction of light could trigger hypnosis or a trance state. Later, in the Renaissance, glass and other refractive materials were still mistrusted and associated with the distortion of truth. English law courts barred evidence that was witnessed through glass windowpanes. In his painting The Crystal Gazer, Titian represented the belief that it is better to focus on theological virtues than on the suggestive reality of the crystal ball. Dürer's engraving St. Jerome in His Study presents the Saint intensely writing as if in prayer, ignoring the seductive concentric refractions of sunlight projected across the wall by leaded glass windows.
—Richard Klein
Using found objects as raw material—mostly parts of used eyeglasses—Richard Klein creates abstract sculptures that allude to living bodies, both human and animal. Products of industry and technology are fused to suggest biology through bilateral symmetry, organic shapes, and direct reference to body parts (eyes, wings, torsos, sexual organs). The juxtapositions of, and tensions between, form and material create overlapping meanings that bridge the worlds of the body and the spirit, the material and the immaterial. Here, in seeming contradiction, objects of substance are suggested by an aesthetic that relies on translucency, the reflection and refraction of light, and cast shadows. Like a theologian, Klein posits light as a divine force that animates dull matter, and like a scientist, he suggests that nothing is truly dense and opaque. His beautifully crafted sculptures are meditations on the complex psychological and physical intertwinings of light, substance, the eye, the body, and the soul.
—Nick Capasso
Curator
Please join the artist for an informal gallery talk on Saturday, July 21 at 3pm.
