The brothers Rob and Christian Clayton, in their upcoming exhibition Open to the Public, examine the mythos, culture, and visual language of an archetypal second-hand store located near their Los Angeles studio.

Hailed as a thrifting mecca for several decades, Sun Thrift Store in Sunland, California, draws its share of both unusual characters and the commonplace man—all participating in the hunt for trash-turned-treasured objects. Drawing from their observations of the venue and its visitors, the brothers entwine their independent approaches, styles, and palettes into works that operate as co-authored epics—which are rife with reoccurring motifs, gestures, and figures.

For this exhibition, the brothers appropriate not only the trinkets and discarded paintings retrieved from the business, but also the handmade signs, displays, and closely observed shopper behavior.

Acting as flâneurs or urban observers, the brothers investigate both the construct of “thrifting culture” as well as the members that form this unique microcosm of consumption in a series of mixed-media drawings, assemblage, photography, video, and installations. Taken as a whole, the exhibition draws upon the subject matter of the everyday as a window into contemporary Americana. Through a nonpartisan lens, Open to the Public explicates the people’s narrative as a universal struggle to create, cherish and ultimately abandon.

Opening reception and artist talk, 5-6 pm: The Clayton Brothers | Open to the Public. Mark Moore Gallery, 5790 Washington Boulevard,Culver City, CA. See the video in which the Clayton Brothers discuss their new body of work.

Rob (b. 1963, OH) and Christian (b. 1967, CO) Clayton both received their M.F.A.s from Art Center College of Design (CA). They have had solo exhibitions at the Pasadena Museum of California Art (CA), and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (WI) in addition to shows in Houston, New York, Beijing, Los Angeles, and Miami. Their work has also been included in shows at the Museum of the Moving Image (NY), Santa Monica Museum of Art (CA), Laguna Art Museum (CA), Kistler Beach Museum of Art (KS), Corcoran Museum of Art (DC), and the Dallas Museum of Art (TX), among others. They have also participated in more than twenty visiting artist lectures around the world. The artists both live and work in Los Angeles, CA.