Digital BW, The Print

At 06:42 PM 4/21/2002 +0200, you wrote:
>
>>
>> Congratulations on your exhibition. I have a question about your 
>> mounting on
>> aluminum plates. I have seen art and large photos (Avedon) mounted this 
>> way.
>> What advantages - practical or aesthetic do you find? I have also seen
>> examples of mount board and paper turning yellow when kept in 
>> non-anodized
>> aluminum holders - that was a surprise to me.
>>
>
>Thanks, I was hoping no one would ask those questions. FWIW here are my 
>answers:
>
>The prints were mounted on 2mm aluminum sheets obtained from a metal 
>factory, really cheap stuff. For mounting we took into consideration the 
>extreme temperatures and humidity plus the fact that the prints were 
>made on Fiber  photo paper, RC paper, Epson inkjet and Somerset 
>Enhanced. We decided that there had to be some sort of buffer/physical 
>barrier between metal and print to reduce wrinkles caused by the 
>expansion /contraction of the metal and the reaction of the paper to 
>sudden changes in humidity. At the same time we wanted the prints in 
>close contact with the sheets. So we decided to use double sided 
>adhesive film covering the entire back of the print. Can´t remember the 
>name but its the standard film used for mounting, quite expensive. As 
>you can imagine this is a total loss system of mounting. Sometime in the 
>near future we will collect the prints and it will be interesting to see 
>any damage and wither or not that damage added something to the overall 
>effect.
>
>I think you have guessed that it was the aesthetics which were the most 
>important element.
>The Museum is actually a sculpture park set in rough rolling landscape 
>with bronze sculptures dotted all over the place. The concrete building 
>houses the original plaster casts plus some bronze figures all ranging 
>in size from minute to enormous and lit only by natural light. And, our 
>photos an interpretation of how we saw the museum.
>
>Against that backdrop I am sure you can imagine how powerful the mixture 
>of plaster, bronze, the dull sheen of plain aluminum sheet and 
>monochrome prints on paper can play with the every changing natural 
>light.
>
>Ok, that was a bit too esoteric, even for me!  But it is nice to visit 
>an exhibition/museum where the art is not protected by bullet proof 
>glass and a security guard does not jump at you if you stick your nose 
>within 2 inches of the artwork. Knowing that the prints are a total  
>lose creates a freedom to allow the prints to blend into and become part 
>of their surrounding acquiring a life of their own.
>
>I think a lot of your Panoramas would look terrific exhibited on 
>aluminum, even if the paper yellowed. I have met a French photographer 
>who, just for fun, glued his prints to skate boards which were placed on 
>the floor of the gallery. Much to his surprise he sold all but one skate 
>board.
>
>I don´t think I can answer your questions fully because it really is an 
>aesthetic thing, but I hope some of this is helpful.
>
>Jerry.
>

Jerry,
Thank you for your interesting reply to my question.  

I have been eyeing alum. for mounting pans for some time. Avedon's "American
West" show back in 1988 was all mounted on 1/4 in. plate. The prints were 50
in. wide (some spliced to be even larger!) Poly Contrast fiber. They were
not throw-away pictures. I saw the whole show then and have seen individual
prints in other collections but not recently. Occasionally I see various
flat work mentioned in publications as mounted on aluminum. It would be
interesting to ask a real archivist about this. 

A friend of mine just had a show in a real art gallery of his amazing and
functional skateboards. Who would have imagined? He didn't think to do
panorama photo skateboards. 

AZ



Maker of Lookaround panoramic camera.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8874/
         or
keyword.com lookaround