Des Plaines, Ill. (Nov. 28, 2022) – The public is invited to view Chicago-based painter Art Kleinman's recent work during an upcoming exhibit at Oakton Community College. The exhibition will feature Kleinman's geometric paintings and explore the relationship between structural balance and the desire to "break out" into a freer form of expression.

The free exhibit, "Break Out," runs from Dec. 8 to Jan. 20 at Oakton's Koehnline Museum of Art, 1600 E. Golf Road, Des Plaines, Ill. A public reception for the artist will be held at the Museum Thursday, Dec. 8, 5-8 p.m.

About Art Kleinman

Art Kleinman was born in South Carolina and moved to Chicago after earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971 from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. From 1991 to 1994, Kleinman taught painting at the Evanston Art Center. In 1993, he was a visiting artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Since 1980, Kleinman has had solo exhibitions in Chicago and St. Louis, including a 2000 show at the Chicago Cultural Center. He has participated in many group shows, including Figure Eight at the Rockford Art Museum, Drawing in Chicago Now at Columbia College and the Koehnline Museum of Art, Chicago Artists in the European Tradition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and New Horizons in Art at the Chicago Cultural Center.

About Break Out

In Break Out, Kleinman revisits the geometric paintings he produced in the mid-'70s to the late '80s. His recent paintings at this exhibition explore the relationship between structural balance and the desire to "break out" into a freer form of expression. The paintings start with a sketch on a grid and continue to a point at which a looser form takes over. The applied visual language determines the outcome, which reflects a combination of instinct and geometry.

"In the current work," notes Kleinman, "I have broken out of the grid. I am using more fluid linear elements along with some structured geometric elements. My goal is to approach a canvas with no preconceptions."

For more information about the Koehline Museum of Art and exhibitions, please visit https://www.oakton.edu/about/koehnline-museum-of-art. The Museum is open Monday - Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The College and Museum will be closed for winter break from Dec. 26 - 30. For special visits, call 847.635.2633.