In Action Painting (2012), mining is a feedback loop in which the end product (commercial objects) and waste product (relave) are fused. A figure paints a series of metal objects made of copper, lead, silver and zinc (allmetals extracted from the open cut mine in Cerro de Pasco), coating them in a mixture of relave pigments. Dressed in neon protective clothing, the figure then transports the painted objects to the relave, placing them to rest on the red cracked earth.
The title is also a tongue in cheek nod to gestural or action painting of the mid twentieth century, an artist in the action of painting and video making. This performance was shot on location in Cerro de Pasco, Peru, as part of the Afuera festival of site specific art, June 2012.