The Unnatural World of Cletus

Painting for Cletus began when he was a teenager, he experimented for the first time with poster colors (the affordable and generic types) at school. In what some would call an ahah! moment, this changed his life. Outside of school he found the freedom to do more with colors, which activated his sacral chakra, merging his imaginations with creativity.

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Having honed his skills for over a decade now, he has found his niche and built an interesting portfolio which comprises of bodies; glorious and ethereal. Through bodies he aims to capture human emotions and stories.

Cletus is fascinated by portraits and is passionate about individual consciousness. He aims to make people confront flawless versions of themselves, to make them look differently at the flaws in society. He would love to say through art ‘stop seeing the world simply as it is but what it could be’. He fervently believes we have a beautiful world which we can make better.

This sentiment is boldly shared by the Irish writer Sally Rooney in her third book, ‘A beautiful World Where are you’

When he isn’t painting, he is most likely to be playing either the piano, violin or a guitar.

When not actively occupied, he can be found engulfed by his surroundings, watching birds in the sky or people laughing.

Despite discovering art early on and having the support of his family, he did not choose to study art professionally. He relocated to India to study computer science at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada (JNTUK). This change was profound albeit challenging. There was so much newness, which meant a change in perspective and learning different ways to view everything. While studying, he discovered how financially lucrative painting could be, which enabled him, get out of a few financial binds.

While in South Asia he adopted the hybrid process of sourcing art supplies, buying from local and online stores. He lived there for 5 years and acclimated well, singing with diverse people as one in the choir and sharing his art with them.

A post India Cletus is a man who creates monochromatic works because they give this special feeling of an unnatural world, a world without colors.

He does this by using graphite pencils or charcoal, drawing out surreal images on canvas or paper. Sometimes brilliant dashes of colors such as gold appear on his work when he infuses a bit of oil paint.

His creative process follows a lot of observation at first. He spends a significant amount of time observing people everywhere, people IRL, people on screens as well as people in articles, papers, books or magazines. This transforms into an idea which is implemented through sketching. However, there’s no clear-cut style as he never limits himself to one idea, for him the creative process of painting can evolve.

He gets the most comfort from music, especially classical and instrumental music and simply must have background music when working. He enjoys the works of Andrea Bocelli and Ed Sheeran. This artist is more likely to be found listening to Bocelli’s ‘Swan’, Brother James ‘Air’, The Amore album by Bocelli, the Divide album by Ed Sheeran or ‘Sound of silence’ and ‘Little blue’ by Jacob Collier while working.

Cletus belongs to Sturm und Drang and the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Romanticism. A period in European history where art did not need to have meaning. An age marked by a strong sense of feeling and showing great displays of emotions through writing or art. A time known for its overindulgence in passion and beauty, shown through landscapes of scenic valleys or of maidens devoid of imperfections. This would be the best way to describe Cletus and the fuel behind his creativity. Art feels like the ultimate intoxication, essentially his best high.

He reads just like the Romantics Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, choosing to read works on human psychology and behavior.

Despite his similarities with the 18^th and 19^th Century writers and painters of Europe, he is heavily influenced by black contemporary artists like Kelvin Okafor who makes life-like pencil portraits and the perfectionist Arinze Stanley Egbengwu who is Inspired by the rich narratives of Contemporary Black experiences.

He is also an enthusiast of the Milanese Emanuele Dascanio who uses the Renaissance technique oil painting.

However, to paint, he embraces the manic nature of Edvard Munch and has completed a piece in five (5) hours and never takes more than a week to finish. Occasionally, for an added boost he uses the natural references of plants and animals or picture portraits of people to create the final piece. Much like Edvard, art to him is like breathing or sleeping. He views his images as his life regardless of whatever form they take.

It follows course that he loves Japanese animations more commonly referred to as anime. While Cletus didn’t find himself during Covid-19, he realized the world is small.  The only changes he has noted in himself and the art he produces are techniques and intentions.

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