Born in Dortmund, Germany, Markus Linnenbrink was trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. In an insightful review of the artist's 2007 show of colorful striped paintings at Sweetow Gallery in San Francisco(San Francisco Chronicle, September 22, 2007), Kenneth Baker posed and answered a compelling question: "Under what circumstances does painting turn into conceptual art? You can see it happen in the work of Linnenbrink.., which at first looks excessively optical. Viewer fatigue effects the conversion. We reasonably demand that a contemporary painting invite and withstand prolonged scrutiny. It ought to hold the promise of surprise even after many encounters. Linnenbrink's work satisfi...