By Catherine Marenghi
Andrew Klein has been a professional artist for more than 60 years. Born in Hungary, he immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 9. His family settled in Chicago, where he was fortunate to drink from a rich cultural brew of world-class museums. While visiting the Art Institute of Chicago in his early teens, he came upon a monk-like self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh, and it inspired him to become a painter.
Klein has exhibited his paintings and drawings in galleries worldwide, including Chicago, Boston, St Louis, Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Tel Aviv, and San Miguel de Allende, where he now makes his permanent home. He also taught art at universities and high schools internationally for over 20 years.
In 2021 he founded an artist collaborative with five other contemporary artists and opened the Galería Blue Moon in San Miguel. Originally on Calzada de la Estación, the gallery is now located on Stirling Dickinson 7, part of a vibrant and blossoming art district that includes coffee houses, restaurants, markets, and live music venues. The artist collaborative has since grown to 10 diverse artists spanning painting, photography, lithography, fabric collage, and jewelry.
“I am, first of all, a figurative painter. My new solo exhibit at Galería Blue Moon, ‘Plants Imagined/Plantas Imaginadas,’ is inspired by the bounty of nature’s forms, with which I take liberties. My aim is to surprise myself at the juncture where perception morphs into depiction,” said artist Klein.
“Especially over the last seven years, I have felt an almost mystical connection with Madre Tierra and her extraordinary display of shapes, colors, and forms. In fact, I never had a garden until I moved to San Miguel, although I have lived all over the world. I am endlessly fascinated with the succulents, frangipani, passion flowers, and other extraordinary plants that surround me.”
Klein was formally educated at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA), Northwestern University (BA, West African cultural anthropology), and Indiana State University (MA, history of art and literature).
The opening reception for “Plants Imagined/Plantas Imaginadas” will be at 5pm on April 20 at Galería Blue Moon, Stirling Dickinson 7. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition will run until May 11, when there will be a closing reception.More information about Galería Blue Moon may be found at www.galeriabluemoon.com.
Opening
“Plants Imagined/Plantas Imaginadas”
Artist Andrew Klein Solo Show Opening
Thu., Apr 20, 5-8pm
Galería Blue Moon
Stirling Dickinson 7
Free exhibition
