AIC's 47th Annual Meeting

This paper explores new methods for applying agarose gel, and the need to think outside the box when dealing with complex and often sensitive modern surfaces. Treatments discussed in detail include a garden landscape painted in 1973 by Fay Peck (1931-2016) that was exhibited on a front porch for over thirty-years resulting in a variety of condition issues including an excess build-up of dirt, grime, and insect nests. The painting was made on a wax-tempered Masonite panel with an acrylic ground and thickly applied paint. Due to a weathered and destabilized binder and the use of modern paints, the surface was sensitive to aqueous cleaning and mechanical action. Agarose gel was employed to successfully reduce the surface debris without disrupting the fragile painted surface. The treatment of a color field painting by Paul Reed at the Dallas Museum of Art will also be discussed. Several dark and disfiguring food stains destroyed the pristine and intended raw canvas and pure color bands. Agarose gels were used locally to target the dark food stains. A secondary and unusual treatment done at the DMA will also be discussed. Crucifix, a beautiful and subtle installation by artist John Wilcox, composed of four panels exhibited in the form of a crucifix, was damaged after exposure to water in storage. The four panels symbolize the body of Christ and are composed of red mud, sawdust, ash, and cloth. The sawdust panel was particularly damaged and a disfiguring watermark was addressed through agarose gel cleaning. With these case studies, the authors hope to inspire creativity in treatment design using new materials and methods in times when other means fail work safely and effectively.