Moonlight Euphoria
5 / 26 April 2024, Galerie Kungerkiez, Berlin

Clayton Junior returns to Galerie Kungerkiez with the exhibition "Moonlight Euphoria," unveiling a collection of 15 paintings crafted over the past year. 

The title of the show alludes to his latest series, where fictional wild flowers and plants are interwoven with subtle man-made elements—bottles, table legs and teapots. Here, the sensual allure of forms and colors comes into play. Curved lines of both the natural and the artificial world pulsate in a playful dance, blurring the boundaries between material and symbolic, mystical and concrete.

The artist's extensive background in graphic arts provides insight into the origins of his masterful command of color and composition, playing with evocative colors, objects and shadows—a pure witchcraft guiding the viewer's eye.

Presented alongside the three Moonlight Euphoria paintings are other series, often displayed as diptychs: "Neukölln Weather" portrays small-scale landscapes depicting unusual meteorological phenomena—such as a Parelio and a Comet Shower—in the skies of Berlin. "Laurinda and Gioconda" captures the interactions of two colorful spiders in empty space, their light bodies and limbs seemingly composed of pure drawing. "Time Flies" captures a moment when we see two little birds in a kitchen being fed by a character who is too big to fit in the frame.

An invisible thread subtly links the works together. Initially, it may be the striking color combinations or the assertiveness of the flat brushstrokes. Yet, as viewers immerse themselves in the narrative of the pieces, a theme emerges: the interplay between the human and the non-human, even in the absence or representation of the human figure. 

Focusing on the microcosm of insects, birds and growing plants, the artist wrest the protagonist role from our own species, guiding us towards a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness with all life forms. 

text by Casia Anthony Lanchez