Agnes Martin has exclusively painted stripes for 40 years.
"I think that's some kind of record," she says in a documentary. Not stripes really, but horizontal lines on 6-by-6 canvases. Recently, she switched to 5 feet by 5 feet when the larger canvases got too big for her to maneuver. Martin, 91, lives in Taos and has been painting for 60 years.
She describes her life and her process on local filmmaker Mary Lance's latest documentary, "Agnes Martin: With My Back to the World."
The film will show tonight in the UNM Art Museum. Lance was surprised when the solitary and reclusive Martin agreed to speak to her and be filmed.
"I don't know why she chose to speak to me," Lance said. "She's really legendary in the art world and she has not been really accessible to people."
Lance began interviewing Martin in 1998 when she was 86. They spoke on and off for the next four years.
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"I had this great opportunity to spend time with this icon," Lance said. "I wanted to use what she was talking about and not have other people talk about her. I wanted it to be slow-paced and spare stylistically to reflect her work."
The documentary moves slowly from scene to scene, but never drags. Martin is fascinating to watch as she speaks of her process, which begins with her waiting for inspiration.
This inspiration comes in the form of full-fledged paintings in her mind. She says the hardest part is getting the painting out of her head and onto the canvas.
Martin describes the first 20 years of her career, before she found the horizontal lines, as being very frustrating. Part of this time period was spent in Taos, and at the end of each year, she would light a big fire and burn the year's work.
