MARIA KATIA TUFANO - conservazione arte contemporanea

CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION

A constant attention to the conservation of the work of art, especially when it is constituted of perishable materials –as it often occurs in Contemporary Art- can postpone or even prevent the need of restoration.

Any act of restoration, although executed respecting the artist’s intent, can still result in an invasive procedure.

Restoration must be conducted by a professional restorer in order to guarantee both the nature of the work of art and its consolidated value on the market.

A heavily restored art piece suffers a considerable loss in its value.

Hard-handed restorations that claim the art piece will return ‘as new’ are in effect detrimental to it and undermine its artistic and financial value.

Restoration of an ancient and of a contemporary art piece must find a fine balance between consolidation of the materials used in its creation and preservation of the outward aspect the artist had given it.

This is particularly difficult when it comes to restoring contemporary art.

Until the beginning of the 20th Century, the artist possessed a technical formation which allowed him to master the skills involving priming the support and executing the art piece.

Throughout the centuries traditional techniques and their degradation have been thoroughly researched, and this results in a highly reliable restoration.

The Avant-garde art movement freed the artist from the traditional techniques, and allowed him to experiment with unorthodox materials, at times not compatible with each other or assembled impromptu, and this may result in new difficulties in the restoration procedures.

Next to a professional restoration, a constant monitoring of the conditions of the art piece is of great importance, next to a systematic work of maintenance in order to avoid a heavier and more radical restoration.

Each material may be extremely sensitive to the environment in which the object is kept.

It is therefore necessary to analyze the microclimate and the lighting situations in which the work of art will be kept in order to prevent any harmful condition, which might cause its deterioration and a consequent decrease in value.