So these works are for our Adrian Piper show, which is in 2018, and when we were examining
these to think about having them in the show,
we realized that they are all hinged down
to their matte boards in a way that looked
like it could be problematic for removal.
So we wanted to get these in early because
we didn't know how much time this treatment
would take, and there are 35 of these works.
With the adhesive we found on these drawings,
it was unusually yellowed to what we would expect
to see, because adhesives do yellow wihen
they age, but this was such a bright yellow,
that we wondered if there was something else
going on that we didn't know about.
And luckily, here at MoMA, we have two conservation
scientists.
So when we run into a question about materials
like this we can have them perform analysis
and hopefully, get some answers.
So our scientists took a sample of the adhesive
we had gotten from the drawing and he ran
some analysis.
And here, he ran FTI...FT...sorry...on the
sample.
And he found that it is similar to an adhesive
used in masking tape.
And you can see here this red line on the
spectra is the adhesive from the Piper, and
then, this purple line is a reference of painter's
masking tape, and you can see that the peaks
match fairly well.
Luckily, in our explorations of these works,
we found that the adhesive is quite flexible,
which you can see some of the adhesive right
there from another drawing, and the paper
is quite strong and thick.
So we start by...
I'm going to put some weights here, so the
work does not move.
But we can just go in with a thin , metal
tool, a micro-spatula, and start working through
the adhesive.
And you can actually see the tool moving under
the paper.
This adhesive is quite flexible still, but
over time it will get more rigid.
So this is something when we find it on an
artwork, we want to remove as soon as we can.
I have his conclusions.
Technical grade plasticizers often discolor
to begin with and will get worse over time.
If given enough time, they will migrate into
and discolor the paper, and his recommendation:
use a conservation quality adhesive.
Which is always what we advise people.
