Mark Grotjahn

Blum & Poe, Santa Monica
Acquired from the above by the present owner

This work is in excellent condition overall. There is some very fine, scattered surface soiling. Unframed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The aesthetic practice of Mark Grotjahn has been defined by his extensive and celebratory exploration of the Butterfly motif. From 1997 onwards, Grotjahn centered his intensive study of multiple perspectives and radiant motifs as a muse on the flying insect. His early Butterfly works are part of his meditative focus whereby he painstakingly studies the fluttering wings as a means of arriving at an abstracted vortex, drawing ones attention to the thickly applied surface of each triangulated form to the central body. By restricting his palette to one dominant color, the subtle gradations and tonality of each hue are punctuated by the underlying layers of hues that peaks through the rays, and creates a mesmerizing sense of motion. The innermost vanishing point is the “body” of the butterfly, out of which radiates a fluttering of diagonal lines which are the “wings.” Consequently there is simultaneous concentration and decentralization.

Mark Grotjahn’s oeuvre grew out of conceptual sign making. Early in his career, he would painstakingly reproduce quirky graphics and phrases from local storefronts in his native Los Angeles. In turn, he would trade these handmade copies with the shop owners in exchange for the original signage.  Untitled (Blue Butterfly) is perhaps one of the earliest and most significant aesthetic breakthroughs for the artist.  The work is composed on three inner bands which make up the “body” of this butterfly painting, one of the rarest and most desirable features of this early composition.  Arguably, it is this extraordinarily early study that resulted in the Grotjahn’s 2005 drawing show at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. In this breakthrough painting, Grotjahn turned the “axis of his images ninety degrees from a horizontal format to a vertical one while maintaining their multiple vanishing points. With their horizontal lines now upended, the works begin to feel radically unmoored as their perspective spaces list dynamically from side to side.” (Douglas Fogel, “In the Center of the Infinite,” Parkett 80, 2007, p.115). There is an intimacy in Untitled (Blue Butterfly) despite the use of hard-edged lines and the static attempt to capture kineticism. The delicately coalescing color field retains a sense of geometric definition. This painting shimmers as a result of its rigid angular forms through its delicately implied perspective.

In this subtlely elegant composition, passages of turquoise peak through the outer edges of the wings almost like sunlight capturing the wings while fluttering.  As in the Abstraktes Bild paintings of Gerhard Richter, these passages of under painting catch the viewer’s attention and draws them into each subsequent layer of the composition.  Moreover, as in Mark Rothko’s ultimate achievement, the Rothko Chapel in Houston, both Rothko and Grotjahn make an in-depth study of tones and hues as a spiritual pilgrimage for all denominations. Rothko’s monumental canvases composed in deep purples and blues are quietly overpowering. They draw one’s eyes into the tomblike forms bathing the viewer in the wash of pigmentation veiling over one’s eyes. Similarly, Grotjahn draws us into the central light of the butterfly’s body as if meeting the angels in the afterlife as one embraces their rebirth.