Rosemarie Castoro, Orange China Marker, 1967

1967

Medium

Acrylic, prismacolor pencils, china marker and graphite on canvas

Dimensions

212.1 × 210.5 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-156214

The large-format painting Orange China Marker (1967) is the final work in a series of abstract paintings by Rosemarie Castoro, which became increasingly monochrome over the course of the sixties and in which the structure of the paint application as well as the use of the line becomes increasingly distinctive. These paintings, often referred to as Prismacolor Paintings or Pencil Paintings, are characterized by the dense repetition of parallel lines with their pervasive monochrome surfaces. In Orange China Marker, the orange color is applied diagonally from the lower left corner to the upper right corner. Drawings with prismatic colored pencils, wax crayons (China Marker) and pencil overlay the brushstrokes and lead to a shimmering moiré effect. Castoro's use of the pencil line as a visible part of the painting is reminiscent of the work of minimalist painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004), whom she was associated with during that time. The canvas bears witness to Castoro's expanded understanding of painting and drawing, in which genre boundaries are blurred and the traditional concept of media is rewritten. As in the work Two Blues Band (1965), the title Orange China Marker is to be understood literally in the sense of Minimal Art and refers to the colorfulness and technique of painting.