From: Bob Kiss (bobkiss@caribsurf.com)
Date: 05/28/00-08:57:25 AM Z
DEAR ROD ET AL.
Two small additions to "A Question" which may be of help to someone.
Firstly, my friend the curator, Jose Orracca, (same guy who recommended
Renaissance wax) responded to my question about whether or not to dry mount
prints was "From your perspective, no! From my perspective as an archivist
who will be paid lots of money by collectors of your work to carefully
remove your prints from damaged or degenerated mount boards (yes, even 100%
cotton) PLEASE dry mount them all!" He was kidding, of course and stood
strongly against dry mounting. He cited the MANY Adams prints that he had
to carefully remove from their broken down mount boards and CORRECTLY hinge
with archival tape from the back of the print to the back of the window
overmatte. He also stated clearly that Adams told him (yep, he know him)
that he waxed his prints for the following reasons:
A) Protect the image from finger marks etc
B) Waxing opens up the deep shadow detail without reducing D-max.
Next, I discovered that it is nearly impossible to get pencil to take to
the front of a waxed print and that the waxing process wipes off pencil
marks made before waxing!
Sooooo, singing on the mount board isn't a good idea. Signing, dating
and (egad!) numbering in pencil on the back is.
I still cannot figure out why we live in a world when things forced upon
us by advertising and marketing have their prices inflated by artificial
control of supply but we artists and photographer who bring beauty to this
otherwise amazingly materialistic world are opposed to protecting our
incomes and the values for our collectors by limiting our editions. This
list had this discussion about 10 months ago but I guess it will never rest.
It IS STANDARD GALLERY procedure to make a limited edition and retire the
negative to a vault for 100 years so the photographer will not make any
more. We tend to keep negatives because any image, regardless of its
original intent, is an historical document and of interest to students, hist
orians, sociologists etc in the future. Yes, we can, and many contemporary
fine photographers are, having it both ways...as long as procedures are
clearly stated and adhered to. I, for one, believe that, since I am
unwilling to join them, I will beat them at their own game while remaining
an artist true to my aesthetic muses. Two hats? Schizophrenia? Heck yeah!
"Was and is to be". We have two halve brains and some define sanity as the
ability for those two to communicate and live in harmony. After all,
Michaelangelo DID collect his gold from Pope Julius (the second?) after he
finished the ceiling...didn't he?
CHEERS!
BOB
KISS
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 06/13/00-03:10:22 PM Z CST