Local artist’s latest success is show at prestigious New York gallery
by Wendy Turrell
Dennis Kleidon, esteemed abstract artist, professor emeritus of art at the University of Akron and founder of Kleidon & Associates marketing and communications in Bath, is about to open a show that he considers his most prestigious yet.
The artist’s paintings will be on display at the Walter Wickiser Gallery in the heart of the Chelsea art district in New York City at the end of August.
“This is really an honor,” he said. “It is the biggest thing I have had yet.”
Kleidon’s exhibition will focus on two bodies recent work: “Taliesin” and “Unleashed.” An admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright, Kleidon drew inspiration for his “Taliesin” works from the colors and shapes of the native boulders Wright used to build his famous Arizona home and architecture school, Taliesin West. By contrast, Kleidon described his “Unleashed” series as “wilder and looser in control.”
Kleidon’s sweeping, colorful brushwork belies his painstaking creation process. He first sketches in pencil (using French paper) then superimposes a geometric motif and layers paint on the surface.
His paintings include single flowing creations that dominate large canvases and smaller fluid images in a single painting that give a suggestion of the Asian calligraphy and Native American petroglyphs he admires.
Born in Chicago, Kleidon, now 76, received undergraduate and advanced degrees at Illinois universities and began teaching art at the University of Illinois. An early visit to a former fraternity brother in Akron changed his life.
Kleidon’s friend introduced him to Emily Davis, then head of UA’s Mary Schiller Myers School of Art, who offered Kleidon the opportunity to start a graphic design program.
“I thought I would stay for a couple of years, but here I am, 50 years later,” he said. He retired from UA in 1997.
Kleidon now spends six months of the year at his Bath home studio and six months at his Phoenix home studio. His son Kurt has taken over as president of Kleidon & Associates.
Although Kleidon no longer teaches, he said, “I love education and its environment of learning.” He gives private talks about his art and an upcoming book, “Unleashing Your Imagination.”
Kleidon was inspired to write “Unleashing Your Imagination” when he retired and began to contemplate the contributions to society he still wanted to make.
Another catalyst occurred when he and his wife, Rose – a writer of historical novels – attended a literary conference, where he met spiritual writer Thomas Moore, author of “Care of the Soul,” described on Goodreads as a “lifestyle handbook that shows how to add spirituality, depth and meaning to modern-day life by nurturing the soul.”
Kleidon’s “Unleashing Your Imagination” details his philosophy of opening oneself up to dreams and imagination in order to “live a life based on all one’s capabilities” and deeply-held values, thus contributing to the quality of life for oneself and others.
He maintains that this philosophy goes way beyond the superficiality of working away at a “bucket list.”
“The years from 60-100 are the enlightenment phase of life, prefaced by the learning phase (ages 0-30) and the production phase (ages 30-60),” he said.
When people view his art, Kleidon said he hopes “they look at my paintings and unleash their imagination and dreams, not questioning, but opening themselves to possibilities. You can’t do that by being a rational critic.”
He believes the upcoming Wickiser show will open other doors for him in the art world, he said. Kleidon has been invited to show his works in a Miami exhibition next year, and he will open his “Textures of Taliesin” show Nov. 2 at the WHAM Art Gallery in Phoenix. That show will feature Taliesin-inspired works not shown at the Wickiser Gallery.
Kleidon’s paintings can be viewed on his website, denniskleidon.com. The Wickiser Gallery exhibit can be viewed at walterwickisergallery.com.
Locally, several of Kleidon’s paintings are featured at the Gallery of Framing on Ghent Road, and many more are displayed at the Kleidon & Associates offices on Embassy Parkway. He welcomes those wishing to view his works there by appointment.
Featured image photo caption: Dennis Kleidon, local artist and founder of Kleidon & Associates marketing firm in Bath, paints calligraphy-like strokes as he works on a piece from his most recent series of work. His latest success, and possibly most prestigious accomplishment yet, is a solo show at an esteemed New York City gallery.