Our cover this month, “Untitled (three-tiered perspective)” (24 in. by 29 in.) by Mark Grotjahn, sold for $264,735 at Phillips’ recent Contemporary Art Evening Sale in London on June 27, 2013. Grotjahn works primarily in colored pencil and creates a latticework of triangular radii, which he then fills in with a semi-random selection of colors. Though his process is highly systemic, the result is geometric designs that at first glance appear formal, but gradually seem to shift and stretch before the viewers’ eyes. Grotjahn is particularly interested in perspective and multiple vanishing points, and these concepts inform a great deal of his work.
Grotjahn is not the only one interested in changing perspective, however. With its recent ruling in the Windsor case, the U.S. Supreme Court has changed its long-held perspective on marriage and who can be considered a spouse, and by striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, it encouraged the states to change their perspectives as well.