La Luz de Jesus Presents The Clayton Brothers

The Clayton Brothers' approach to collaborative painting is unchecked and organic with one brother beginning a painting then handing it off to the other for his interpretation. Back and forth they work, at times individually, other times side by side, building on one another’s contributions until each painting is complete. While they discuss a concept at each piece’s inception, they choose not to dictate what the final narrative will be. Rather, the end result is left ambiguous, develops as part of the process, and is ultimately determined by the viewer.

In their new show, Six Foot Eleven, The Clayton Brothers tell the story of Charles Murphy, a fictitious patriarchal character comprised of chunks of truth and glimpses of humanity. Seventy-four feet in length, Six Foot Eleven suggests one continuous narrative but is divided into twenty-seven individual pieces, each becoming its own experience, a stand alone painting itself. Good, bad, lonely, kind, the characters and events in Murphy’s world tell not one, but countless stories. The elements can be viewed individually or as a whole. They can be rearranged and the story retold again and again in the eye of the viewer.

The Most Special Day of My Life is the first published collection of the Clayton Brothers’ work. Breaking away from a traditional format, it is a non-linear narrative volume that mirrors their approach to the creative process and includes individual and collaborative work.

Rob Clayton and Christian Clayton live and work in Los Angeles, California, where they share a storefront studio in La Crescenta. Currently, they are writing a story for Six Foot Eleven which, combined with images from the show, will become a book.