The Possibility of Patina in Contemporary Art or, does the 'New Art' Have a Right to Get Old? (original) (raw)
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Conservation of contemporary art: from concepts to practice, Cloaca by Wim Delvoye
Authenticity in transition, 2013
Starting from an emblematic contemporary work, Cloaca by Wim Delvoye, we analyse how a contemporary artist conceptualises terms such as original, copy and replica and notions such as authenticity and patina. One of the jobs of the conservator consists in getting behind these terms and notions -which often lead to confusion- to grasp the concept, i.e. the artists abstract mental representation of the word. To do so, the conservator-restorer has to rely on a taxonomy shared by the profession, which in many cases still needs to be firmly established, and prove himself capable of keeping a distance from commonly accepted meanings of the words to grasp the artist’s thought.
Artworks and their Conservation. A (Tentative) Philosophical Introduction
2019
What is it like to restore the works of art of the past? What principles, constrains and rules underpin our conservative practice? In this essay we will take a philosoph-ical look at the discipline of art conservation. Different philosophical positions that impact the aesthetic, ontological and conceptual arguments as to how restoration is to be conceived will be discussed, in the context of examples of artworks that have undergone restoration, de-restoration or re-restoration. This will lead us to address the following questions: Why do we feel compelled to conserve artworks? Which values should we abide by when it comes to restoring them? What role do the intentions of the original artist play? Finally, does current audience have a right to be involved in the matter?
2009
The traditional, the innovative, the ephemeral: conception, realization, intervention in contemporary art. One must consider the traditional, the innovative and also the ephemeral related to the artistic intentions and thus to the interventions on works of contemporary art, for which the concepts of originality and authenticity do not always correspond. The Brandian vision and point of view do not completely resolve the problematics relative to restoration and conservation: artists realize their artifacts with the intention of undermining tradition or, however, of interpreting it in an unusual way. There are, therefore, cases when a diagnostic-analytical and conservative intervention is possible correspondently to the different and numerous typologies of the materials (poor, plastic, industrial) and techniques (collage, enamel on rubber foam, paint on textile or plastic, neon). A vocation for the ephemeral can be transformed into the adoption of deteriorated materials or into the realization of works of conceptual art and net-art. Some case studies are treated in the comparison of art works of different age. The solutions to the aforementioned problematics are offered and the importance of the involvement of the historical-technical experts, authors and manufacturers of the materials used in the artifacts is highlighted. Finally the procedure of intervention cannot be the same for all works of contemporary art. One must employ a methodology based on the critical study, not only of the materials used but also of the philosophy and creative conceptual intentions of the artist.
This chapter will investigate the gradual establishment of restoration principles during the Early Modern period in Europe by focusing on the treatment of paintings by Raphael. The High Renaissance artist Raphael (1483 -1520), who flourished under the patronage of Popes Julius II and Leo X in Rome, became even more famous after death than he had been during his lifetime. Influential theorists championed Raphael as the modern painter who had captured the spirit of the ancients most fully and whose art, therefore, should be emulated. The great value attached to Raphael's art meant that his works were typically owned by the wealthiest individuals and institutions. When they required restoration, exceptional trouble was taken. Sometimes this led to overly-ambitious treatments, while at other times new and improved standards were set. Often the treatments were documented with unusual care. The most notable advances in principled and ethical restoration occurred in institutional contexts and less so when Raphael's paintings were controlled by private patrons.
Where is the authenticity of the contemporary art
In the contemporary art, the conservation of the original matter is not as important as the conservation of the authenticity of the work, because of this it is very important to know the artist and his work, to be able to conserve the most important values. In this process it is very important the documentation and the research. Therefore the criteria of restoration has changed, we can not conserve the patina of the contemporary art as a historic document, if this means the loss of the aesthetic value of the work. Nowadays the art is different, and therefore its conservation is different too. ¿Dónde está la autenticidad del arte contemporáneo? Resumen: En el arte contemporáneo la conservación de la materia original no es tan importante como la conservación de la autenticidad de la obra, por ello es muy importante conocer al artista y su creación para poder conservar los valores más importantes. En este proceso es muy importante la documentación y la investigación. Por lo tanto los criterios de restauración han cambiado, ya no podemos conservar la pátina del arte contemporáneo como documento histórico si esto significa la pérdida de valor estético de la obra. El arte de hoy en día es diferente y por lo tanto su conservación también.
The Preventive Conservation of Contemporary Works of Art: Some Case Studies
The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies, 2019
The conceptual evolution and the material renovation of contemporary artwork have generated many problems in its conservation. The study of the major causes of alteration and the established recommendations for new artwork preservation can be seen in the criteria followed in different examples of contemporary art: the consideration of the possibility to forbid lending Pablo Picasso's "Guernica;" the maintenance of Eduardo Chillida's "The Comb of the Wind" at an exhibition under bad conditions; and the re-edition and exhibition of Richard Serra's lost piece of artwork, "Equal-Parallel: Guernica-Bengasi." Artists and selected works are referents internationally. The works presented for study have different technical support and various conservation problems. They are also found in Spanish collections or have been exhibited in Spain, which was a main factor in the decision to use them in this study. In conclusion, there are different reasons why conservators and curators have needed to extend their classical working criteria, namely the wide diversity of the constitutive material of contemporary artwork, the difficulty to predict its durability, and the concept of reduced durability. Thus, each particular case has to be studied with the artists very closely, and many choices need to be made, such as the manner of documentation, whether or not to reproduce performance art, or how to re-edit works that have been lost among other solutions.
Conservation Strategies of Modern and Contemporary Art. Recent developments in the Netherlands
2005
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, visual artists have used an increasingly varied repertoire of materials and techniques. Academicism, with its strict, almost regulated technical procedures, gave way to experiment. Moreover, the optical, aesthetic and iconological qualities of the materials used in modern artists' explorations have taken on yet greater significance. Artists consciously choose their materials by virtue of these qualities. At first, the relationship between materials and artistic intentions received little attention from critics, collectors, art historians or conservators. This situation changed as it was gradually realized that the essential qualities of the materials were being ignored during conservation work: matt paintings were being varnished or impregnated with wax, while materials of iconological significance were being replaced by those which lacked any such significance.