Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is in very good condition overall. There is fine craquelure in the blue band in the left side of the lower third section of the painting. There is also some long fine and stable cracks in the center section of the work. There is an intended unevenness to the deep turquoise horizontal band in the lower center. There are no signs of retouching under Ultraviolet light inspection. 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.

"I wanted to find a motif that I could experiment with for a while. I did a group of drawings over a period of six to twelve months. The drawing that I chose was one that resembled the three tier perspective, and that is what I went with." - Mark Grotjahn

Grotjahn's early explorations of color and perspective began in Los Angeles in the late 1🐭990s. Inspired by storefront signs he discovered around the city, he would replicate them and present them to the store's owners. These early drawings and color sketches soon evolved into conceptual perspective studies where two or more vanishing points are situated at close proximity in the picture plane. These colorful works on paper quickly evolved into his trademark canvases. Turning Renaissance aesthetic ideology on its head, Grotjahn applies multiple vanishing points within topsy-turvy horizon lines to create deceptive spatial arenas for his viewers to navigate.

Anchored both in conceptual criteria and random selection, Untitled (Three-Tiered Perspective) challenges the traditional relationships between space, depth and the picture plane. The canvas is divided into three vertically stacked rectangular sections where polychromatic orthogonals recede into three independent horizon lines creating a complex and alluring composition.  Rot𒊎ating the axis of his image ninety degrees from a horizontal to a vertical, Grotjahn manipulates the hyper-rational system of Renaissance one-point perspective.

After ceremoniously drafting an infrastructure of non-parallel lines, the artist randomly chooses colors to fill in each fragment. Each sleek triangle, composed of a single opaque color dissolves into terrains of thick impasto creating a shimmering yet solidifyin🏅g effect. This process embodies the artist's inherent paradox; the offspring is a seamless whole, a fluid masterpiece greater than the sum of its parts. Somehow the abstract conglo𝔉merations of irregular triangles come together to form a harmonious creation, a balanced and clear composition ironically in line with Enlightenment ideologies. Grotjahn's iconic composition of complex, skewed angles and radiant color both challenges and expands upon the paradigms of classical and modernist painting. His genius lies in his revolutionary use of perspective and geometric manipulations of space. The kaleidoscopic creation that is the present work is flamboyant and electric yet deliberately enigmatic at the same time.