This weekend the Clayton Brothers, Rob and Christian, will open a show of their new work at Patrick Painter's Bergamot Station gallery. Although they have achieved an almost cult hero status in Los Angeles, and their work has been recently shown in New York and Beijing, this will be their first show on native turf in more than five years.

Jumbo Fruit, the title of the new body of work, takes aim at the artificiality and instant gratification of a consumer society in with the "Bigger is Better" mantra rules. Large in scale and executed in an explosion of color, they are crammed with figures, fruits, and an array of objects that all come together in a post-psychedelic dream - or nightmare - of excess. Both allegorical and nonsensical, the paintings offer sometimes a nod at traditional Dutch still life painting and sometimes a poke at art historical conventions for academic still life painting. The fruits in this series are rendered in hard-edged candied-apple sharpness that makes them look really irresistible and really, really bad for you.

Left: The Clayton Brothers at work, photo by Bill Farroux. The studio as a work in progress.

The variety of expression comes from the brothers' unconventional collaboration. Working separately in a studio in the small town of La Crescenta, a little north of L.A., they leave visual clues for one another to pick up on and elaborate. This results in an organic flow of ideas that are continuously developed or subverted into symbolic metaphors drawn from their individual thought processes - and paintings that are finalized only when a fraternal consensus has been reached. The work is highly personal and idiosyncratic, and always engaged in the culture in which they live. Their last series, Patient, for example, was inspired by the traffic accidents that regularly happen outside their studio.

The Clayton Brothers will be on hand for the opening this Saturday, July 18, from 6 to 8 pm at Patrick Painter, Inc. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave, Unit AB & B2. 310.264.5998. The show continues through the end of August. Please check websites for information.