This cleaning was a special case as is the art piece. While normally a painting is exposed to the wall, this one is exposed to the ground, which has caused some unusual alterations. People stepped on it!
The art piece is a series of four works by Ralph Roelse, Hermitian Hyphae,[1] stretched on canvas. The very structure of the work is thought upside down. Indeed, the pre-prepared canvases were mounted so that the preparation is on the back of the work, revealing the raw canvas. On these raw canvases, the artist painted black rectangles with a white diagonal line.
Ralph Roelse. Hermitian Hyphae. 2020. Acrylic Paint and Spray Paint on Raw Linen / Quadriptych / 34 x 190 x cm (13.38 x 74.80 in) Each
Each work had distinct footprints (Cf. photos below). This alteration is linked to public negligence, since it was not in the initial will of the artist. It must be removed.
Detail of a footmark present on the painting, waffled outsole.
Detail of a footmark present on the painting, lugged outsole.
The grime of the spectators’ shoes was more or less superficially embedded in the fibres of the canvas. So let’s roll up our sleeves, and take out all this dirt that have been lefted.
Macro detail of the raw canvas before/after cleaning.
Detail of the painting before/after cleaning.
It’s a delicate work because care must be taken not to alter the fibers of the canvas. That’s why we opted for a dry treatment using a Wishab® gum. For embedded grime, gum alone was not enough, so an agar gel is used to absorb the embedded grime in the fibers.
Macro detail of the raw canvas before/during/after cleaning.
[1] Ralph Roelse. Hermitian Hyphae. 2020. Acrylic Paint and Spray Paint on Raw Linen / Quadriptych / 34 x 190 x cm (13.38 x 74.80 in) Each. Link to the website of Ralph Roelse : https://www.ralph-roelse.com/hermitianhyphae