Untitled (Black to Brown Butterfly 786)

Several lines converge on a vanishing point in the centre of the canvas. The painting’s dark tones - black and brown - and subtle relief invite the viewer's gaze to abandon itself to an endless fall. In this work, Mark Grotjahn uses and explores the possibilities of perspective, which both focuses the whole composition and endlessly extends it into space, beyond the painting’s limits.

Untitled (Black to Brown Butterfly 786) is part of the formal experiments the American artist has explored in the Butterfly series started in 2001. Perspective, at once the painting’s vehicle and subject, is treated poetically here. Combined with the ability to absorb dark colours, it directly appeals to the viewer’s eye and perception.

Grotjahn's painting Untitled (Black to Brown Butterfly 786) was shown for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the “Mapping the Studio” exhibition in 2009 at the Palazzo Grassi.