Ray Kleinlein
Blue and Orange (T-Shirt), 2016
oil on canvas
20 x 30 in.
Realistic still life painting is, perhaps more than any other genre, consciously intended to be situated within a long-standing tradition. As a contemporary artist who deliberately chooses to work within the parameters of a traditional genre and to employ a traditional mode of representation, my challenge is to create work that embraces tradition (which I’m convinced remains vital and relevant for our time) while simultaneously transcending the sense of nostalgia often attributed to it.
Ultimately my paintings celebrate the simple act of looking at the overlooked and the pleasures derived from seeing ordinary things in an extraordinary way. As affirmations of the beauty of unremarkable things, the paintings enthusiastically embrace human culture and the material world while suggesting a life-affirming optimism, reverence, humor, and an underlying spirituality.
"My paintings invite one to slow down, take time to look closely, to see, think, feel, and finally, to know."
RAY KLEINLEIN
1969
Born in Columbus, OH
EDUCATION
1998
MFA in Painting and Art History, Ohio University, Athens, OH
1993
BA, The Columbus College of Art and Design,Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Ray Kleinlein: Recent Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco CA
2017
Paintings – An Introduction, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016
The Eloquent Object, Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, OH
2011
Painterly Still Lifes, Keny Galleries, Columbus, OH
2009
Recent Work, Keny Galleries, Columbus, OH
2007
Perry Nicole Gallery, Memphis, TN
Esther Thomas Atkinson Museum, Hampden-Sydney, VA
2006
Keny Galleries, Columbus, OH
TEACHING
2022– present
Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Hampden-Sydney College, Farmville, VA
2019–2021
Adjunct Faculty, Advanced Degree Program, Concordia University Chicago, Chicago, IL
2009–2018
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Art, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
SELECTED AWARDS
2013
Award of Merit, National Small Works Juried Show, Todd Gallery, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
2008
Professional Artist Fellowship, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Ray Kleinlein
Glass of Water, 2019
oil on canvas
10 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.
