rossana martinez

Glow, 2006
Performance and site-specific installation at Hunter College/Times Square Galleries, NY
Fluorescent orange spray paint on wall
Edition of 1,000, fluorescent orange spray paint on white paper, 4 x 6 inches each

Glow is a hybrid project where performance and architecture are transformed into painting. To create Glow, I wore a black dress and heels. Starting in one corner of the space, I walked around the perimeter of the room holding a can of spray paint at arms length while continuously spraying paint on the wall until the can of paint was completely empty.

The visual result is an installation consisting of undulating and overlapping orange lines. The intention of the work is to question what is considered a contemporary painting or what is a painted object. As part of the project, I created an edition of 1,000 works on paper consisting of fluorescent orange spray paint on white paper. The edition was stacked in the center of the space and made available free of charge to all visitors.

On the way out of the show, a jolt of adrenalin is provided by the estimable Rossana Martinez, who, in a performance just prior to the show’s opening, witnessed by a lucky few, ran a can of orange spray paint at arm’s length around the wall of her allotted space, forming a two-foot-high band of roughly parallel lines like a jittery jetstream, fuzzy and electric, spreading out oddly in the corners. The result is Glow. Was it a Happening? An Action? A late-mannerist tag? Streaked with the same orange, a double stack of 4-by-6-inch cards, in an “edition” of 1,000 but each apparently unique, sits in the middle of the floor. Visitors are invited to take one. I confess, I took two — I just couldn’t decide!

-Stephen Maine. “Painting Presentation.” Artnet Magazine, NYC, April 7, 2006.