Mark Grotjahn (b. Pasadena, 1968; lives and works in Los Angeles) ranks among the bestknown American painters of his generation. His heterogeneous oeu vre includes depictions of anthropomorphic plants and masks as well as co lorful abstract compositions in oil or wax crayon. After 1997, he also produced numerous monochromes. Grotjahn's "Butterfly" and "Face" paintings are ani mated by a dynamic dialectic between gestural representation and formalist...