Amateur Art Restoration Ruins Artwork… Again!!!

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

U.S. & WORLD report

“Amateur restoration attempt ruins artwork,” ABC reports during Action News on July 1, 2018 as did dozens of other international news sources including U.S. & World Report

Their warning and coaching for you? “Recruiting an amateur to restore a treasured piece of artwork is probably not the best idea. So the art world and especially the art conservation profession should not be surprised that a 16th-century Spanish sculpture is now ruined.” As a short cut to proper and careful cleaning to bring back the original period appearance, someone painted over the Statue of Saint Jorge, changing its original colors in order to save some money… a total hack job… the destruction of history.

“The botched job is now being compared to another infamous fail in 2012 that destroyed a fresco of Jesus Christ at a church, also in Spain.” Did you get the lesson here?! “Recruiting an amateur (or an artist) to restore a treasured piece of artwork is probably not the best idea.”

Disaster response clean up companies and restoration contractors are a dangerous source of fast and cheap restorations. They are under pressure by the insurance company who wants to pay out the least amount of money possible and KNOWS NOTHING, and doesn’t usually care, about proper cleaning, maintenance and conservation processes on art and historical objects.

Smoke Damaged Art Restoration – PuroClean Testimonial from Scott M. Haskins on Vimeo.

It is entirely appropriate and common for the more conscientious disaster response companies to subcontract out proper professional art conservation services for items that have financial, emotional or historical value.

Thinking that restoring a work of art is like “fixing” anything else is a gross lapse of judgment. Artists who think that because they can paint a painting, they can restore any painting have no idea why works of art fall apart. They have no idea as to the aging problems of the materials/supplies they use for restoring. But most importantly, they don’t honor or respect the original creation, historical value or aesthetics, even if they are flawed (in their opinion).

Unfortunately, restoration attempts by do-it-yourselfers, self taught restorers, artists, framers, hobbie queens, and fixer-uppers isn’t an uncommon thing and something horrific usually happens when they start restoring historical items (there are standards, guidelines, ethics to follow).While its better than a monkey face, it still is a laugh:

Wonder Woman has been busy lately saving the world and now she’s doing art restoration on ancient statues at the Met and saving the world’s heritage too. I’m glad that she sees saving our heritage as an important work worthy of her time and she’s amazing at beating up the bad guys but would you want her “delicate touch” and “trained eye” to restore your artwork?! I don’t recall that education or experience being part of her training on the hidden lost island of Amazon Warrior Women.

You may think this is funny! But the sad thing is that it happens all the time!  On the left  is the photo of how the painting looked AFTER restoration when it came back from a “professional” Russian restorer in the Los Angeles area not long ago! IT DIDN’T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THEIR GRANDMOTHER! As you might imagine, the family was crushed, as they thought the original, cherished oil painting of their dear grandmother was damaged beyond repair and lost forever. Actually, they were pretty “wound up!” On the right is the after-restoration photo of the ancestral portrait,  AFTER all the previous “restoration” was removed and the original portrait was recuperated. You should have seen the owner’s/family’s faces!

Undoing Nellie’s Amateur Oil Painting Restoration Treatment

This exquisite Madonna and Child Spanish Colonial painting in the Franciscan archives of California is another sad story of botched over-restored valuable art. Look closely, especially at the details of the child Jesus… it looks as bad as “Behold the Monkey!!!”  The first photo is the “restored” (repainted) old master!

The second pic is after all the repainting was removed and the original painting was recuperated, preserved and restorer back to its original appearance.

After we cleaned off all the repainting to re-reveal the original, we then properly stabilized deterioration, cleaned the underlying “gunk,” carefully and discretely inpainted only the paint losses, being careful to not slop over onto the original. Conservation grade varnish layers allowed the painting to glow and look its best. Professional conservation adheres to this and standards of practice.

For more on IR, click here: https://www.fineartconservationlab.com/research-and-authentication/lost-leonardo-searched-for-with-infrared-its-also-used-to-help-art-collectors-find-lost-signatures-–-a-short-video/

For in on UV, click here: https://www.fineartconservationlab.com/research-and-authentication/analysis-of-art-can-reveal-hidden-details-important-to-authentication-and-value/

To discuss the value of your painting, call my friend Scot Levitt at Bonhams Auction House in Los Angeles. Tell him Scott Haskins sent you. I promise, he’ll be nice to you! 323 436 5425 scot.levitt@bonhams.com

Art conservation – restoration questions? Free home and office visits/consultations with pick up and delivery in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Fernando Valley, Thousand Oaks area, Ventura area, Santa Barbara area, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City.

Call Scott M. Haskins, Oriana Montemurro, Virginia Panizzon – Art Conservators

Andrew Jacobs, Disaster Response Coordinator

Tel 805 564 3438  faclartdoc@gmail.com

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Is Street Art Worth Saving? A Conundrum! International mastermind group debates mural and art conservation issues

Posted on June 29, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

Is Street Art Worth Saving? A Conundrum! International mastermind group debates mural and art conservation issues for contemporary art murals in public places

Scott M. HaskinsBy Scott M. Haskins, Art Conservator

 Trying to conserve, as a general idea, contemporary street art has an almost irritating “rub” for me: the artists don’t care.

But there is an interesting technology reason why,that was new to me as I participated in the international mastermind group that debated these art and mural preservation and restoration issues:

The development and execution of the art (illegally on a wall of an abandoned property or on a wall to be seen in public) is the end unto itself. Meaning that, once the art (or even the tag) is put up, then it is photographed and circulated on social media… and that is the purpose of the “art.” In fact, sometimes there are multimedia and elaborate productions made that become viral standards of the “art”… the “art” being the published technological multimedia production NOT the art on the wall! The physical art production is only part of the creation of the digital art project. Click here for to see an example that went viral: Rone, The Omega Project.Take a minute to enjoy this amazing 3-D production. It really is amazing and it was said in our conference that this production has opened new doors of opportunity and business to the artist (but I can’t confirm this). Preserving the original art created on this project is of no interest to the artist. For more about creating digital productions of street art, click here. And here is another, click here.

The act of putting up tags and “art” illegally is actually a sub-culture badge of courage and an added “plus’ to the social media vibe… the “artists” get added kudos and adds to their fame.

The disinterest in preserving and restoring the original mural creations by the artists is not exclusively expressed by artists of illegal art. Its also a pervasive attitude of commissioned artists. For the above mentioned conference, a questionnaire was circulated to a number of street artists asking them specifically about these issues. Here is a copy of the answers by some of them: Street artist questionaire

Here is my question, to be answered by all the following (infact I INVITE any comments and questions): mural conservation professionals, city art maintenance personnel and artists… Why even discuss the logistics, politics and technical problems of preservation and restoration of street art if the artists don’t want and will not authorize the work?!?! If no money is available for such projects, why even discuss what is needed to protect and prolong the life of their creations?!?!

The quality of the visual expressions varies from illegal spray-can-paste-up street art that morphs out of the graffiti sub-culture to fine artists with formal training and techniques that create community pride-of-ownership monuments and landmarks… by the way, I AM NOT grouping all these visual expressions as “artwork.” Many formally trained artists would have an emotional discussion with you about this subject.

Legal murals by living artists in public venues are mostly located throughout city locations accessible by the public. The international problems with their protection, preservation and restoration are common issues confronted by specialized art conservation professionals hired by city governments, historical organizations and corporations.

This “masterclass,” attended by mostly veteran specialized art conservation professionals, was actually a master-mind forum for exchanging ideas and experiences. The conference was held at the José Rodrigues Foundation UPTEC’s Creative Industries Center. Practicing mural conservation professionals attended from Milan Italy, Athens Greece, Amsterdam Holland, Los Angeles (Santa Barbara, CA) USA, Barcelona Spain, Porto and Lisbon Portugal, Oslo Norway, Dublin Ireland, Bucharest Romania, Sydney Australia, San Paolo Brazil and from Athens Greece. The video of this group meeting can be seen by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/sApXO1okzXA

Many of the problems discussed (and that are routinely resolved) go far beyond the nasty job of graffiti removal, which include; the questionable techniques and materials choices of some artists, the quality of the walls used for mural painting and the sometimes precarious locations. Here is a very quick video of some of the street art discussed: https://vimeo.com/275374645

So, when it comes time for recuperating, preserving and restoring murals, some mural painting techniques often don’t lend themselves to easily resolving difficult treatment problems. Add to this a wide variety of very complicated logistics for the size of murals, sometimes the size of large buildings.

For instance, one of the problems of interest, discussed from several points of view, several times, were the varnishing of murals and what does a quality (or functional) anti-graffiti coating consist of; what makes one mural more resistant to aging and maintenance than another; how do people define what is worth saving; will vandalism today be considered art in the future? Specialty tools and apps were reviewed and several projects in process presented.

The idea exchange was stimulating and the attendees congenial as visits were made to many murals in the city and presentations of problems were made in the conference room to stimulate discussions. The weather was wonderful, the food good and the time well spent.

This mural conservation mastermind group was organized by 20|21 Conservação e Restauro de Arte Contemporânea, Lda.,Porto,Portugal

Great read!  Click here for

Bibliography – Public Murals and Street Art Conservation

Your comments are requested, below.

For background on Scott M. Haskins, click here.

For a short video tour of Fine Art Conservation Laboratories, click here.

For our YouTube Channel, click here

For our Facebook page, click here.

For a mural capabilities statement, click here.

Questions? Call Scott M. Haskins, Oriana Montemurro, Virginia Panizzon, Art Conservators, Andrew Jacobs – Disaster Response Coordinator

805 564 3438 office 805 570 4140 mobile faclartdoc@gmail.com

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WPA mural experts say painted over school art was vandalism

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

Recognized as a national expert in mural conservation, CNN and the New Jersey Herald call Scott M. Haskins to review details (fact check) of the article and quote him…

National News   http://www.njherald.com/article/20180616/AP/306169936

This Aug. 5, 2015 photo provided by Frank da Cruz shows a mural painted in the 1930s by Alfred Floegel on the walls and ceiling of the third-floor hallway at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx borough of New York. New York City education officials aren’t saying who decided to paint over the ceiling murals depicting the constellations in the night sky, but advocates for the preservation of New Deal art say whoever covered them with bright blue paint should have known better. The mural was one of thousands of artworks around the country funded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). (Frank da Cruz via AP)The Associated Press
By KAREN MATTHEWS
Posted: Jun. 16, 2018 8:00 am Updated: Jun. 16, 2018 11:28 am

NEW YORK (AP) — A mural of constellations in the night sky adorned a third-floor ceiling at DeWitt Clinton High School for more than 75 years, one of thousands of artworks in New York City and around the country supported by WPA New Deal programs to employ artists and beautify public spaces.

But Scorpio, Taurus and the rest are now hidden under bright blue paint, slathered on during a repair project, and preservationists say the painting-over of the mural “Constellations” by German-born artist Alfred Floegel was a travesty.

“That was an amazing act of vandalism that they had no right to do,” said Gray Brechin, the founder of a project called the Living New Deal that catalogs public works funded by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration.

The mural cover-up was first reported in the Daily News, which said it happened last November. Doug Cohen, a spokesman for the New York City Department of Education, said the mural was painted over during roof repairs at the 89-year-old Bronx school. He said officials are “exploring ways to restore this historic artwork.”

This undated photo provided by Frank da Cruz shows DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx borough of New York where inside, on the walls and celing of the third-floor hallway the artist Alfred Floegel painted murals in the 1930s funded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). New York City education officials aren’t saying who decided to paint over the ceiling murals depicting the constellations in the night sky, but advocates for the preservation of New Deal art say whoever covered them with bright blue paint should have known better. (Frank da Cruz via AP)
The Associated Press

One art restorer said it would be possible, though expensive, to remove the blue paint from “Constellations.”

“I would think that it could be done not only safely, it could look perfect,” said Scott Haskins of Santa Barbara, California-based Fine Art Conservation Laboratories. Haskins said “Constellations” is not the first historic school mural to be painted over. “Every once in a while you get a dingbat principal that gets a roller out and tells maintenance to give it a fresh coat of paint,” he said. “I’ve seen it happen all over the country.”

There have been several cases of WPA murals that were painted over and later restored. Seven murals at New Mexico Highlands University depicting different fields of knowledge were covered with white paint sometime in the 1960s. They were restored in 2011 after the New Mexico New Deal Preservation Association hired an art conservator to uncover them.

Cedar Rapids murals were painted over in the 1950s amid controversy over images depicting justice in what was then a federal courthouse. The murals were restored, then covered up again in the 1960s, then restored again between 2011 and 2013.

Brechin and others at the Living New Deal project say the loss of the DeWitt Clinton mural, whether temporary or permanent, shows how the legacy of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and other New Deal public art initiatives has been forgotten.

“It was a renaissance the likes of which we haven’t seen before or since,” said Brechin, a visiting scholar the University of California, Berkeley’s department of geography. “Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt and the people around them believed that all Americans deserved the right to art.”

The Living New Deal database includes hundreds of murals at schools, post offices and other government buildings painted between 1934 and 1943, many illustrating scenes from U.S. or world history.

There are a number of New Deal murals at New York City public schools, where few people besides students and staff ever see them.

Ernest Fiene’s monumental “History of the Needlecraft Industry” at the High School of Fashion Industries in Chelsea memorializes the Triangle Shirtwaist fire that killed 146 workers in 1911.

The Brooklyn High School of the Arts houses Monty Lewis’ double fresco “The Cotton Industry in Contemporary America.”

“Constellations” isn’t or wasn’t the only mural at DeWitt Clinton. “The History of the World,” also by Floegel, depicts scenes from the Ice Age through the 1930s in 194 feet of wall panels. The DeWitt Clinton photos on the Living New Deal website were shot by researcher Frank da Cruz, who also maintains his own website documenting the New Deal’s legacy in New York. Da Cruz said Floegel, who died in 1976, took care to get all the stars in the right place in “Constellations.” The mural “must have been just amazing” when it was new but had been damaged by leaks when he photographed it in 2015, he said. “It was in bad condition but obviously they didn’t realize that it had a great deal of historical significance,” da Cruz said. “What it needed was to be repaired and not painted over.”

FACL has cleaned overpaint off of many WPA murals. Here is an example project in Cedar Rapids Iowa that the reporter quoted about. Give it a thumbs up! Leave a comment. Subscribe to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4tnVN0WJIE

Posted in Consultations, Expert Witness/Legal Testimony, FACL in the media, Historic Buildings - Construction Sites, Murals, Professional activities | Tagged | Comments Off on WPA mural experts say painted over school art was vandalism

Masterclass of Conservation Issues for Contemporary Art Murals in Public Places

Posted on June 16, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

A legal mural approved by the city.

Murals by living artists in public venues are mostly located throughout city locations accessible by the public. The international problems with their protection, preservation and restoration are common issues confronted by specialized art conservation professionals hired by city governments, historical organizations and corporations. The quality of the artwork varies from illegal spray-can-paste-up street art that morphs out of the graffiti sub-culture to fine artists with formal training and techniques that create community pride-of-ownership monuments and landmarks.

Spray cans in illegal tagging and mural location

This “masterclass,” attended by mostly veteran specialized art conservation professionals, was actually a master-mind forum for exchanging ideas and experiences. The conference was held at the José Rodrigues Foundation UPTEC’s Creative Industries Center. Practicing mural conservation professionals attended from Milan Italy, Athens Greece, Amsterdam Holland, Los Angeles (Santa Barbara, CA) USA, Barcelona Spain, Porto and Lisbon Portugal, Oslo Norway, Dublin Ireland, Bucharest Romania, Sydney Australia, San Paolo Brasil and from Athens Greece.

Professional mural conservators masters class discussing preservation and social issues.

Many of the problems discussed and that are routinely resolved go far beyond the nasty job of graffiti removal, which include; the questionable techniques and materials choices of some artists, the quality of the walls used for mural painting and the sometimes precarious locations.

So, when it comes time for recuperating, preserving and restoring murals, some mural painting techniques often don’t lend themselves to easily resolving difficult treatment problems. Add to this a wide variety of very complicated logistics for the size of murals, sometimes the size of large buildings.

For instance, one of the problems of interest, discussed from several points of view, several times, were the varnishing of murals and what does a quality (or functional) anti-graffiti coating consist of; what makes one mural more resistant to aging and maintenance than another; how do people define what is worth saving; will vandalism today be considered art in the future? Specialty tools and apps were reviewed and several projects in process presented.

The idea exchange was stimulating and the attendees congenial as visits were made to many murals in the city and presentations of problems were made in the conference room to stimulate discussions. The weather was wonderful, the food good and the time well spent.

This mural conservation mastermind group was organized by 20|21 Conservação e Restauro de Arte Contemporânea, Lda.,Porto,Portugal

For a mural capabilities statement, click here.

For background on Scott M. Haskins, click here.

For a short video tour of Fine Art Conservation Laboratories, click here.For our YouTube Channel, click here

For our Facebook page, click here.

Questions? Call Scott M. Haskins, Oriana Montemurro, Virginia Panizzon, Art Conservators, Andrew Jacobs – Disaster Response Coordinator

805 564 3438 office 805 570 4140 mobile faclartdoc@gmail.com

3-D art from trash

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Gorgeous Gilded Age Society Oil Painting Dented by Freak Accident, Los Angeles  –  Art Restoration Due Diligence Tips for Art Collectors

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

This article and video entertains you with a Los Angeles story about surprising impact damage on 19th century paintings of high society fashion with some tips on condition from an art conservator. See several paintings of gorgeous women in The Gilded Age Society, paintings by the French-Italian Master Artist Frederic Soulacroix.

This short video about a painting of a pretty lady in a gorgeous pink dress during the Gilded Age Society and the reason she was in our lab will surprise you! But it was the freak accident that occurred… which happened to TWO paintings, unrelated, of gorgeous ladies in pink dresses… that surprised US!

The freak accident is a good story with an educational slant for you art collectors out there. Art collecting is all about due diligence to make sure the quality of what you are buying is what you think it is. The video includes several tips on identifying condition issues, which might influence the value.

Let me tell you quickly the story of the celebration with popping corks that put a hole in our young lady in a pink dress. How often does THAT happen?!?!… but to the surprise of the art collector, when he came to our lab to discuss the repair, we already had another painting of a lady in a pink dress with the same damage!

Take note when you are inspecting closely paintings that have some age, you will often see a cracking pattern that looks like a spider web or bulls eye. In the middle is where the painting took a hit, a point of impact… like a speeding cork! But the damage can be done in a myriad of different ways.

Click on this link to see a short video on the methods for properly, professionally repairing a rip in an oil painting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhhu0AZ_WVI&t=198s

Did you know that the inpainting (retouching) to repair lost paint appears as a purple blotch when seen with a UV light?

Soulacroix was born to well-known fresco painters and sculptors, Charles Soulacroix and Giacinta Diofebo. By the age of 15 years, in 1873, Frédéric entered the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, and, in October 1876, he was admitted to its School of Painting. He remained in Florence for many years painting often romantic genre pieces in costume of the 18th or early 19th centuries.

He hit his stride, so to speak, during The Gilded Age in high society of the early 20thcentury.

His works can be seen at the Museum of Arts of Philadelphia and at the Lord Mayor collection Mansion House in London.

Call us for a pleasant chat about your art restoration questions: 805 564 3438 Scott M. Haskins, Oriana Montemurro, Virginia Panizzon Art Conservators.

Click here for our blog/website: http://www.FineArtConservationLab.com

Click here for our YouTube channel: http://www.YouTube.com/bestartdoc

 

 

Posted in In Lab, Painting on canvas | Tagged | 10 Comments

Saving and Preserving Collectibles, Heirlooms and Memorabilia from Montecito’s Mudslides of Interest to the New York Times

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

The New York Time’s Visit to Santa Barbara and Their Interest In The Story of Saving and Preserving Collectibles and Heirlooms from Montecito’s Mudslides

by Phillip Justice, Guest Blogger

 

The New York Times recently toured and interviewed Fine Art Conservation Laboratories as part of their interest of developing a story and articles focused on the recovery of family heirlooms and memorabilia by The Bucket Brigade digging out of the Montecito debris flows and their subsequent preservation and restoration.

New York Times reporter and photographer document and interview the clean up processes for family heirlooms salvaged from the mudslides

After the horrific Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslides, this group of angel volunteers – The Bucket Brigade – sifted through the ash, rubble and residue in an attempt to locate family history items and other valuable collectibles (among other important things… like even clearing out mud to save trees). The Time’s reporter was enthralled with this process.

Very often, it does not matter how extensive or brutal the destruction seems to be, there are always treasured things which can be recovered. However, the recovery and restoration process will be a lot more successful when professionals are used. After an item has been removed from 3-4 feet of mud out of a family home, its not only possible to recover a valuable painting but also often restore that painting to its original condition. The Times investigated several volunteer clean up operations and their methods for restoring heirlooms and had high praise for this grass roots effort. The professional approach to the sensitive work of preserving collectibles was also of great interest.

There is always hope

Items to be worked on professionally are much safer and suffer much less collateral damage. Where possible, such items can be partially or fully restored depending on the type of object involved and also the level of damage which was suffered. Helping families to recover objects of sentimental value, things which would have been permanently lost, has been a story that pulls at the heart. Professionally trained technicians know exactly how to handle valuable items where destructive fires have raged and where tons of mud has been deposited in residential homes. The reporter was surprised what can be accomplished when you have professional preservation experts on the job. It is quite possible that many of the things which were thought to have been lost may be recovered. An important issue, also, for fine arts insurance policy claims agents!!

Scott Haskins, Art Conservator and Andrew Jacobs, FACL Disaster Response Coordinator explain issues with mud damaged items.

Getting closure

In the middle 1990’s, Santa Barbara lost over 600 homes in the Painted Cave fire. A friend was the third house to be lost in the San Antonio Creek area. I was standing next to her on Goleta Beach at the time watching the fire come down the mountain. The evacuation was so sudden that people barely escaped with their lives. All my friend had left in the world was her beach basket, a towel, bathing suit, a cover-up and her wallet. That’s it.

But she was insured for a complete rebuild and refurnishing and they did exactly that: an exact rebuild and the same decorating scheme. It seemed weird to me, you’d think they would have made some changes. But anyway…

After 20 years, she still cries and anguishes over the family photos, the art from her kids, the keepsakes. She has no evidence or items of remembrance of her kids growing up, family history, anything to document the family’s heritage.

One of the best remedies for severe trauma is simply to get closure. Having your home damaged in a natural disaster is traumatic and the process of searching for things of sentimental value and recovering those things, if possible, can speed up the recovery process and help the family to resolve that chapter of their lives.This is just another reason why the saving and preservation efforts of collectibles and keepsakes (including old photos, genealogy etc) are so valuable and why the professional art conservation services have to be seriously considered in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The NY Times and the accompanying local scholars were particularly interested in Scott M. Haskins’ work as an author to help people save their stuff after a disaster. He has now written several books in his Save Your Stuff series. Click on this link to download his latest online multi-media digital book, Save Your Stuff – Collection Care Tipsfor free.

Scott M. Haskins, Virginia Panizzon, Oriana Montemurro,

Art Conservators

805 564 3438    faclartdoc@gmail.com

 

Posted in Consultations, Disaster/Emergency Response, In Lab, Professional activities | 19 Comments

Varnishing a Mural – Antigraffiti Measures- Protecting Public Art Testimonial

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

This educational article is of value to artists planning to paint a mural in a public location. It is also invaluable for public offices and departments planning to place public art. Fine Art Conservation Laboratories (FACL, Inc.) has a 3 year contract with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs to consult, advise and offer art/painting/mural conservation services. See other background materials in the navigation bar of this webpage. We are available to discuss with you your projects. See contact info at the end of this article.

Protecting murals from graffiti is an essential part of the pre-planning of a new mural in a public place. Even if the mural seems out of the way or out of reach, vandals find ways of shooting the paint. The graffiti on this mural goes up about 20 feet.

Before we can discuss the types of protective varnish to use, you need to understand the premise for choice. In the professional mural conservation field, when asked how long should art last, we think in terms of “generations.” Murals are part of a community’s heritage, part of the architecture, part of a community’s vibe and culture. They are not just a decoration.

As professionals, we are bound by Standards of Practice and a Code of Ethics. These prevailing standards would theoretically imply:

  1. We do no harm to the original artwork… the materials we use should not cause harm to the original mural as they age or if they have to be removed
  2. This means, also, that anything we do to the mural should be reversible or safely removable in the future… even distant future.

Here lies the conundrum: Murals painted in acrylic paint remain very soluble-dissolvable (Keim and oil to a lesser degree but still…) forever. So, cleaning with anything except water is a problem. Of course, very little of the stuff sprayed, spilled or deposited on murals is cleanable-removable in water. Solvents and citrus based strippers used to remove graffiti also attack-remove the original paint.

Kent Twitchell’s Jim Morphemes monument on the 101 freeway in Los Angeles

In other words, ANYTHING that is used to varnish the mural, will become part of the mural because it cannot be removed safely (for the artwork). So, let that idea percolate for a moment… if the varnish yellows, that will be the look of the mural in the future and there will be no way possible to remove the yellow. If the varnish cracks and peels (obviously unevenly) then you can’t remove it to redo it later. This photo shows the discoloration of a poor quality protective layers (poor choice).

The brownish see-through haze that is being cleaned away is the unstable varnish and wax once used to protect the mural. This discoloration is an unacceptable condition and the very hard resin very hard to remove.

Despite this warning or inevitable negative situation, some entities have chosen a hard polyurethane “permanent” protective varnish over a sacrificial layering of removable or “thinnable” varnish. I think their choice is based on ignorance based on the opinions of non-conservation-preservation services within their bureaucratic channels, not because there has been a logical choice .

The two schools of thought for the choice of protective layer or varnish are:

  1. The City of Los Angeles has adopted a policy, with the excuse of future minimal maintenance, to use a “permanent” hard coating. The name is “GCP 1000”

Its an aliphatic polyurethane topcoat. Here is the link for application instructions. I suppose that because this is a commercial product, that this appeals to bureaucrats. I’ve also been told that some graffiti can be removed from this protective layer with a commercial cleaner called Goo Gone (another long term preservation problem). Here’s a link about this material.

Blue Moon Trilogy by Russell Carlton (1987) was varnished with this mandated protection.

The Department of Cultural Affairs chose this material at the recommendation of their graffiti abatement contractor.

2. A “sacrificial” varnish layer is one that is applied so thickly that when tagged, the graffiti can be removed along with a layer of varnish without having to remove all the varnish. This means that the cleaning-removal solutions don’t come into contact with the original paint. After the graffiti removal, the surface needs to be re-protected or in other words, the sacrificial varnish layers need to be reapplied.

The resin used for the sacrificial layers is not a commercially available product, but can be purchased from conservation suppliers. The resin used is Rohm and Haas’ Paraloid B72. We usually spray apply 4 heavy coats of 15% solids (in xylene solvent). Then we follow up with 4-5 coats of 30% in xylene applied with rollers as thickly as can be possible applied without creating drips. On the mural in the video below, the artist originally thought to apply the thicker sacrificial layer only up on the wall about 8’. But yielded to reason when I showed him the nefarious techniques some vandals use to spray way up high on walls. So, we applied all the layers over the entire mural.

This photo shows the before and after of removing a decade of graffiti off of a thick protective sacrificial varnish.

Here is a quick video of applying the sacrificial varnish layer to a new mural at street level in Northridge (Los Angeles), CA and a short testimonial for our collaboration.

For more information contact Scott M. Haskins, Oriana Montemurro, Virginia Panizzon, Art Conservators, 805 564 3438 faclartdoc@gmail.com

Posted in Consultations, Murals | Tagged | 23 Comments

Valuable Exquisite 150 Year Old Painting Destroyed by Careless Handling and Shipping

Posted on April 28, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

Wonderful detail of a jewel-like valuable painting… extensively damaged because of stupidity.

Damage to artwork from careless handling, lousy packing and then shipping is completely avoidable… and you’d think that an exquisitely painted, $75,000.00 valued oil painting would automatically be treasured and cared for!

This extensive damage which resulted from lack of care had to NOT be a surprise to the owner as previous flaking, painting restoration and probably active, continued flaking were undoubtedly evident. But, now, the damage and losses are catastrophic.

The quality valuable frame is a casualty also; its very nicely carved wood, not made of plaster from a mold. It had to have been brutally smashed to have been broken the way it is. Several of its main ornamentations have been busted off (but are easily reattached). Fortunately, the frame can be restored without extensive cost and will be 100% original when completed.

Carved frame was also badly damaged in shipping.

So, now that the horse has left the barn, the main question on the mind of the people reaching out to us for help is, “Can the artwork be restored? How much will the restoration of the oil painting cost? How much will the painting be worth after its restored?” There is no insurance company involved in this dilemma.

Let’s start with the last question, How much will the painting be worth after its restored?… the answer to which may over-ride the other two questions.

The painting in original undamaged condition is worth, retail-gallery-value, about $75,000.00… give or take. Obviously, condition is a factor, however. So, with the extensive damage which impacts most of the painting, is the value impacted 75% even if its restored perfectly? A knowledgeable art collector wouldn’t buy it. Perhaps a designer who could place it in a unknowledgeable person’t house or office could turn it around… but that designer is a hard person to find. The restored damaged painting would probably be offered at a low grade auction house that does not provide condition reports and “buyer beware” is the motto. Restored perfectly, it might even bring less than a 1/10th the undamaged good condition value.

So, if it costs $7,500 to do a good job on the restoration, would you save the painting? Leave a comment below about your opinion! I’ll respond.

On-topic with this cognitive dissidence, the following articles will interest you:

Can Botched, Over-Restored Art (repainted) Be Saved?

https://www.fineartconservationlab.com/research-and-authentication/can-botched-over-restored-art-repainted-be-saved/

Rip in Painting Results in $350K loss in Value A Painful and Expensive Collector Care Lesson

https://www.fineartconservationlab.com/in-lab/rip-in-painting-results-in-350k-loss-in-value-a-painful-and-expensive-collector-care-lesson/

WHAT IS A COLLECTIBLE WORTH? RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES

http://tipsforfineartcollectors.org/collection-care/what-is-a-collectible-worth-risk-management-issues/

Thrown in the trash… pulled out by dumpster-diver and sold for $500… perfectly restored for $5,000. What is it worth?

VALUABLE RIPPED OIL PAINTING IS THROWN IN THE TRASH!

http://tipsforfineartcollectors.org/oil-paintings/valuable-ripped-oil-painting-is-thrown-in-the-trash/

Call to discuss your restoration issue: Scott M. Haskins, Virginia Panizzon, Oriana Montemurro Art Conservators 805 564 3438 faclartdoc@gmail.com

Posted in Consultations, In Lab, Painting on canvas | Tagged | 23 Comments

Painting Restoration Testimonial from Salt Lake City of an Historic Portrait of George Washington

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

Painted about 1800

This is something we see all the time in our painting conservation laboratory; someone accidentally pokes the 19th century painting on canvas with very little effort and causes a hole or rip. Sometimes its amazing how fragile these paintings are.

Oil paintings on canvas from the 1800’s are very brittle… more brittle that any other period of art. This is because the additives into the fabric in order for them to be produced by industrial looms accelerates the deterioration by acids. I have in the lab canvas that is 200 years older that is 10 times stronger because it was made without the additives for mass production.

In the case of this “White House Quality” historical portrait of George Washington that was painted about 1800, the hanging wire which was a bit frayed, poked the art handler as it was being hung, the person reacted and accidentally hit against the portrait putting his elbow through the painting.

What might seem to have been a disaster, the owner chose to see the repair of the rip as a good excuse to have the painting cleaned of its yellowed varnish, have an historically appropriate frame made and to get a high tech light that would really show off his gorgeous artwork. As it was to be hung in a focal area of the home, it turned out to give a beautiful glow of quality to everything else in the room that he entertains in. Here is his testimonial:

We are often asked if we can cut costs by patching the rip. This option most always creates negative condition problems, sometime immediately and sometimes “down the road.” The patch sets up an uneven reaction of the canvas from humidity and heat setting into motion new cracking patterns and causing very often disfiguring bulges. In addition, the later removal of the patch can be problematic depending on how “permanent” the repairer meant it to be (it may be very hard to remove). In other words, you will be creating preservation problems almost immediately.

The distortion caused by patching a rip in an oil painting.

Many smaller rips can be repaired very nicely without a general lining and can even be made to be minimally visible from the back.

If you buy a painting with a patch and you want to properly preserve and restore the artwork, then you will have to pay for the removal of the previous repair person’s sins in addition to redoing it correctly.

Here is a link to a video on how a proper rip repair is performed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhhu0AZ_WVI

Note that this video offered 4 excellent tips for collectors to help determine the quality of the rip repair of an oil painting:

  1. Realignment of ripped fibers must be exact – best done under a microscope
  2. The fill or replacement of lost paint must be perfect and textured to match original surrounding paint
  3. The inpainting colors (color matching of missing paint) must be exact in color and transparency
  4. The gloss of the final result must be exactly like the surrounding areas.

Questions about your painting restoration interests? Call Scott M. Haskins, Oriana Montemurro, Virginia Panizzon Art Conservators at 805 564 3438 faclartdoc@gmail.com

Posted in In Lab, Painting on canvas, Travel | Tagged | 4 Comments

Wright Thurston’s International Power Summit

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Scott M. Haskins

An experienced art conservation technical relationship with art seems to be an important expertise and knowledge sought after by auction houses, art dealers, curators and investors in art. Why is that? What should this tell you?

The fact that I inspect and discuss on a professional basis with people perhaps 50-500 works of art a week also “ups my game” when looking at hard-to-determine conditions and situations that may have an affect on an acquisition or value of a painting.

When buying art, due diligence is no less an important concept than in other areas of investing. An expert in your pocket is the key to avoiding many mistakes.

Wright Thurston’s International Power Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah this week highlighted my expertise and offered my availability to its patrons and investors to help them with this part of their portfolio… and I don’t think anyone fell asleep on me!

Some of the things we discussed were fake paintings, discovering a hidden treasure and hitting the lottery, condition of the artwork and how it affects the value… and stories, stories, stories. I opened myself and our lab’s expertise to those in attendance to aid them in their art related interests.

Of course, you can see in the flier, there were many extremely experienced experts who shared their specialized knowledge in other fields of investment and personal development. It was fun!

Scott M. Haskins, Art Conservator

805 564 3438

faclartdoc@gmail.com

Posted in Consulation | Tagged | 2 Comments