Mark Grotjohn: 50 Kitchens is currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

When I walked into this massive installation I thought to myself, what cool screen prints. I love Op Art (optical illusion art) and this exhibit was fantastic with its use of color. Then I discovered that these weren’t prints at all, but color pencil drawings… say what! How many hours did it take to create each one of these? I discovered that  these drawings were done over 5 years between 2013 – 2018, which is  about 1 drawing per month. That’s some serious  commitment to your artistic process.

Grotjohn’s created his first Butterly composition to meet the dimensional specifications of a wall in his kitchen. The subsequent 50 chromatic drawings explore pairs of radiating colors, like Grass Green and Canary Yellow, or Tuscan Red and Chartreuse. From an art history point of view, Op Art ( a mid 1960’s artistic movement)  was traditionally created in black and white, giving the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibrating patterns, or of swelling and warping. These colorful drawings absolutely give the viewer that same experience.

Personally I love a modernist aesthetic, and to see a sterile white room with a stainless steel skylight and ample day light, make for an amazing viewing experience. It forces the viewer to take in the radiating color. That said, I’d love to see a smaller installation of say 3 to five drawings on colorful walls from the opposite end of the color spectrum. What do I mean by that?  Imagine a rich verdigreen wall with orange drawings on it, or a deep purple wall with yellow drawings on it. This contrasting technique would make the drawings absolutely jump off the wall. Would it be a restful experience, no.  On the contrary, all that color would keep your eye moving around the room.

There’s only about 2 weeks left to see this installation. If you’d like to learn more about it, click here: LACMA