Nick Kline presents “Gilgo Beach,” opening at Brooklyn’s Open Source Gallery on September 8, 2012.

Over the last fifteen years, the “Ocean Parkway Serial Killer” targeted se workers, leaving at least ten dead bodies along a short stretch of dense brush by Gilgo Beach, Long Island. Kline, intrigued by the news story, generated the photographs for this exhibition by walking the dunes of Gilgo Beach and making castings of the prickly grass and landscape. As with earlier bodies of work, he was motivated here by news photographs, especially of those forensic detectives combing the area in search of evidence. Kline’s work forcefully captures the strange quality of connection and disconnection, presence and absence, the unknown subject resonating on numerous levels.

To generate images, Kline uses a process that starts by hand-mixing a rubber silicone compound, which he applies to sites such as archtictural facades and objects. This creates detailed imprints in the rubber, which he then photographs and prints at large-scale. Kline’s visually complex photographs attempt to give voice to the murder victims in this case: individuals whose lives are invisible to much of society.

In addition this exhibition at Open Source, Kline has had two other one-person exhibitions in 2012: at Vaste et Vague, Gaspésie, Canada for the 3rd Annual International Meeting of Photography, and the Sol Mednick Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. In October 2012 he will have a solo exhibit at Project Room Normanns, Stavanger, Norway. In 2011 Kline had a solo exhibitions at The Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR and his traveling exhibition “Din of Murmurs” was exhibited at the Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ as well as at the John B. Davis Gallery, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID. Catalogs published to accompany these exhibitions include text by Karen Irvine, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, and Alexander Campos, Executive Director, NY Center for Book Arts, New York, NY. Previous one-person shows include Uno Art Space, Stuttgart, Germany, and Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY. Kline has participated in group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad, including Hirschl Contemporary Art in London. Kline was awarded a 2011 Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant, NYC.