7. Johan Kleinjan – Galerie Fleur & Wouter

Johan Kleinjan, ‘Yellow Magenta Greenhouse’, 2021-2023, wood, acrylic, fluor paint, fluor powder, uv-lights, led-lights and bolts, Galerie Fleur & Wouter (stand 24)

Rotterdam artist Johan Kleinjan (NL, 1974) began the construction of his “Yellow Magenta Greenhouse” in 2021. It is a greenhouse made entirely of panels, each of which is individually painted on the inside with plants in fluorescent colors. Inside the greenhouse are uv lights that make the work glow. There are also LED lights hanging, allowing you to view the work in its “normal” colors. Visitors can operate these lights themselves.

Silhouettes of plants can be seen on the outside, making it an inverted greenhouse, where plants grow in the darkness. With this, Kleinjan is referring to the psychedelic sixties and seventies hippies who started growing tropical plants. But also to discos in summer vacation paradises like Lloret de Mar. The plants depicted are what the artist calls ‘crisis plants’. These are plants left on the street that he cares for in his studio. He draws them with pastel chalk to give them eternal life on paper.