Visiting Artist Lecture - Richard Klein, Interdisciplinary Artist

Visual & Performing Arts Center
room 144, WCSU, Westside Campus
Free & Open to the Public. Limited Seating Available

Richard Klein is a Connecticut-based artist, independent curator, and writer. As an artist, he has utilized found objects in his sculptural work since the late 1990s. The objects are often commonplace castoffs from our material culture, sourced from tag sales and flea markets. His use of glass (bottles, eyeglass lenses, mirrors) speaks to his interest in transparency and reflection. Recent works have incorporated natural organisms and elements, such as fungi and copper, with obsessive craftsmanship, repetition, and accumulation ever-present.

Klein’s artwork has been exhibited widely throughout the U.S. and in London, England. Shows include the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY; Caren Golden Fine Art, NYC; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, OR; Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown, MA; Katonah Museum of Art, NY; Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, VT; Ortega y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY; and Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Kent, CT. Reviews of his work have appeared in The New York Times, Sculpture Magazine, Art in America, and The New Yorker, among others.

From 1999 to 2022, Klein was Exhibitions Director at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT. He has organized over 80 exhibitions, including solo shows of Sol LeWitt, Mark Dion, Roy Lichtenstein, Hank Willis Thomas, Jack Whitten, Jessica Stockholder, and Tom Sachs, among others. Major curatorial projects at The Aldrich included Fred Wilson: Black Like Me (2006), No Reservations: Native American History and Culture in Contemporary Art (2006), Kay Rosen: H Is for House (2017), Weather Report (2019), Duane Slick: The Coyote Makes the Sunset Better (2022), and Prima Materia: The Periodic Table in Contemporary Art (2023). Klein’s latest curatorial project, Dante Vaghi: UFO Pioneer, will be presented at WCSU this Fall 2026.