Mark Grotjahn

Gagosian is pleased to announce Out of Country, an exhibition of new and recent paintings by Mark Grotjahn at the gallery’s 980 Madison Avenue location in New York. Opening on September 10, Out of Country represents the culmination of the Backcountry series that has occupied the artist since 2021, and features never before exhibited paintings on white grounds, as well as two black-ground paintings. A press preview and tour with the artist will take place at 10:30am on Monday, September 9.

In his paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, Grotjahn investigates color, perspective, seriality, and the sublime. The concluding entries in the Backcountry series featured in this exhibition see him again draw inspiration from the experience of rural American landscapes, specifically those from his ski and fly-fishing tours in the remote backcountry of western Colorado. While the works contain an element of pictorial representation, hinting at a snowy mountain descent or starlit nocturnal pass, their primary commitment is still to abstraction, specifically the nuanced layering of line, tone, and texture. Continuing to produce variations on an identifiable style and format, Grotjahn builds on a dynamic rhythm that transcends simple visual record to achieve a unique formal and emotional complexity.