Eddie Martinez Whistles While He Works | "New York Close Up" | Art21

How does it feel to start a new painting? Filmed in his Greenpoint, Brooklyn studio, artist Eddie Martinez starts a large new painting while taking a break to walk his French bulldog Franny in his graffiti-clad neighborhood. Surrounded by an abundance of recently completed paintings, Martinez refers to these compositions while working on a new seven-by-ten foot canvas. Martinez uses black spray paint to make a quick sketch before introducing larger fields of saturated color and developing a densely textured surface. Constantly moving and filling the studio's silence with his own whistling, he impatiently makes marks and scrapes off paint before it's had a chance to dry. Equating his very physical practice to that of a boxing ring, Martinez approaches his canvas like a fighter, rhythmically coming into contact and then stepping back from his opponent. Under his pet Franny's affectionate gaze, Martinez is satisfied by the painting's rapid progress at the end of the day, a testament to his ability to productively harness his anxiety and aggression in the studio.

Eddie Martinez (b. 1977, Groton, Connecticut) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

CREDITS | "New York Close Up" Created & Produced by: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Editor: Brad Kimbrough. Cinematography: John Marton & Rafael Moreno Salazar. Sound: Nick Ravich. Associate Producer: Ian Forster. Production Assistant: Amanda Long. Design & Graphics: Crux Studio & Open. Artwork: Eddie Martinez. Thanks: Sam Moyer & Franny. An Art21 Workshop Production. © Art21, Inc. 2012. All rights reserved.

"New York Close Up" is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; Toby Devan Lewis; the Dedalus Foundation, Inc.; and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Inc. Additional support provided by The 1896 Studios & Stages, and by individual contributors.

For more info: art21.org/newyorkcloseup

[hums and whistles]

Come here

[whistles]

The enthusiasm when she comes is amazing [laughs]

[OFF-SCREEN INTERVIEWER] "So is there a routine for you?"

Pretty much guaranteed that i'm going to go to the studio, at some point or several times in the day

[whistles]

This is going to be exciting, to have--

This new big surface.

[whistles]

"Eddie Martinez Whistles While He Works"

[sound of electric sander against canvas]

Alright, let's see if I can't get a little sketch up on here.

[shakes spray can]

[Whistles]

[Sound of spray can]

I learned a massive amount from graffitti

that I've taken into the studio,

[whistles]

[sound of spray paint]

in terms of scale and how to make large marks

and how to take a small drawing and make it large.

I mean, that's totally invaluable, the skill set.

Not bad.

[sound of spray can]

It's sort of like a boxing ring in here--it's a very physical process.

[sound of spray paint]

Maybe I'm a little addicted to that.

[sound of spray paint]

It's a real part of my life--it's a real way for me to work things out,

outside of just the actual painting.

[sound of spray can]

God damn it, come on.

I might be one of the most impatient people in the world.

Certainly, at times I can't control how the anxiety and impatience and aggressive energy comes out.

It's best when it happens in here, so I like to try and harness that cause no one can judge me, or...

[sound of feet shuffling]

I do have to trick myself into getting through parts of a painting.

[dog barking]

Come on, Fanny, come on.

If it gets to a point where I know a painting's going to be a painting, sometimes there's that real sense of chore,

So then i'll have to, like, drink a bottle of wine [laughs]

Or do something fun,

Like walking around Greenpoint.

[sound of tapping rhythmically]

[whistles]

The best thing, and the most freeing feeling for me, is when I'm just moving the brush and making those strokes

and am not standing back across the room looking at it.

it's when I'm completely lost in there.

[sound of brush against canvas]

There's that sense that I can express any kind of movement or action or noise or whatever i want in there.

[sound of brush scraping against canvas]

[sighs]

[sound of foot tapping lightly]

I think that's it.

I think if I start painting I'm going to start making mistakes.

"Yeah"

Which is fine, but i dont want to.

"Yeah"

But the composition is working and that's exciting. I love when i get a first composition. That's pretty rare--

A first take composition that i want to go with.

Now I said that and I see something I hate but...

"What do you hate?"

This shoulder shape here, it should come into like,

it should drop off, like, there.

[sound of pallet knife scraping against canvas]

When I can make a drawing in 25 minutes and be really moved by it, that's what I want to be painting.

But I dont know how to do it yet, which is exciting,

Because if I already knew how to do it, that'd be kind of depressing [laughs]

[sings "I live my life on..."]

[whistles lightly]