Digital BW, The Print

For: Martin Wesley

> Good points. Personally though I don't think I would want to display a 
> B&W
> print like an oil painting with no mat. It just doesn't sound 
> attractive to
> me.
>
> Back in the early and mid-70's I dry mounted silver fiber prints on 
> 8-ply
> black mounting board and then glued a white frame to the back that was 
> inset
> from the edges about 3". This held the prints out from the wall  about 
> 2".
> Black mat board was not very stable at that time so I sprayed the 
> entire
> front of the assembly with Krylon. Over time though the prints and 
> mats have
> accumulated a number of dents and scratches. All things considered 
> they have
> held up well but not as well as if they had been framed under glass.
>
> I guess I just don't mind prints under glass.

I have been thinking about different ways of displaying photographic 
prints. First, I am concerned only with large prints as I print mostly 
at 16x24 and 24x36 inches. I suppose we're all so used to seeing prints 
framed under glass that this is how we expect "fine art" prints to be 
displayed, but I am becoming increasingly coming to the conclusions 
that other ways of displaying can be as good or better depending on 
artistic intent.

Recently I saw two different ways of mounting large prints in Paris: at 
one exhibition (color) prints about 16x24 inches with a 1/2 inch border 
were simply mounted on aluminum sheets. To me this has the virtue of 
"neutrality" and leads the viewer to look at the print for its own 
graphic content rather than presenting it as an object of "great value" 
Also, the buyer can then decide whether he wants to continue to display 
in this simple way or to frame it. Another advantage for the artist is 
that it's much cheaper to prepare an exhibition in this way than to mat 
and frame under glass.

At another exhibition I saw (also color) prints of 24x36 inch size face 
mounted flush on plexiglass with an aluminum backing. This is a new and 
interesting way of displaying prints and seems particularly attractive 
for very large prints. It gives the print a "wet" look which looks very 
good and apparently does away with all bronzing. Although I've only 
seen color prints displayed in this way, I think it would also look 
very good for B&W.

One way of face mounting is using Diasec adhesive but Paul Graham has 
stated on the EpsonWideFormatForum that Diasec does not work for inkjet 
prints because the adhesive reacts with the inks. But there are other 
adhesives among them Coda Transparency Adhesive, Optimount and 
Firmasec. Does anyone know whether any of these work with inkjet prints?

--MItch/Bangkok