Digital BW, The Print

Mitch (and Bill Morse)

I have seen both the methods you describe at exhibitions in London and agree
with you that large prints look fantastic when displayed this way.  I have
seen some fantastic very large Lightjet prints mounted on aluminium sheets.
They were intended for outdoor exhibition in one case and an interior
exhibition on the other.  The plexiglass exhibition I saw was also very
interesting ­ they were colour prints that had been intentionally heavily
over-exposed and when combined with the plexiglass created very sureal
images.  In my opinion, large prints benefit from no framing and no glass.
In the case of smaller prints, anything less than at least A3+, a frame and
even a matt can add focus and presence to the image on the wall.  But again
I prefer no glass.  Each to their own.

I will make one further comment.  On many occasions I see people on this
fantastic forum constraining themselves to historical precedent ³because it
is so².  I sense these constraints in the framing discussions, the digital
vs darkroom debates and even in the so-called quest for the Holy Grail.  I
urge you all not to be bound by what your forbearers have done in the past.
I have no interest in simply replicating the composition of Ansel Adams and
Henri Cartier-Bresson, replicating the silver print or replicating how
people have framed images in the past.  Learn from these great photographers
and earlier techniques but don¹t constrain your adventures to doing what
they did.  In many instances things were done in a particular way because
there was no alternative.  (People didn¹t use motor drives or pocket digital
cameras because they didn¹t exist.)  These guys were good not only because
they produced pleasing images but because they explored new techniques and
advanced the medium.  If we all stuck rigidly in the past then we would all
still be like Joseph Niepce using pewter plates and taking 8 hours per
exposure!  So learn from what was done before but push the medium further ­
both in composition and production techniques.  Digital technology has given
us all a wondrous expansion of what is possible as have the many new
printing techniques, papers, inks, sprays and framing materials.  Explore.

:-)


From: Mitch Alland <malland@...>
Reply-To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 07:12:22 +0700
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Face Mounting Prints [was: Holy Grail, Double
Standard, etc.]

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


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