Weeping oil paint

Contemporary paintings in danger. I am working on a painting by Otto
Piene from 1993 where white oil paint became liquid within a few
months and has created sticky drips up to 20cm long. As this
phenomenon has been described with an eager and growing interest by
both artists and conservators it seems to be more common in
contemporary paintings than I'd thought. Nevertheless neither
possible reasons nor conservation treatments could be found so far.

Therefore I am investigating a research project with special
emphasis on the question of whether it is possible for a conservator
to prevent the oil paint from running, and how this could be
achieved. Perhaps you have experienced the phenomenon of non-drying
oil paint? How does the damage process manifest itself? What kinds
of treatments have been undertaken? Do you know of any research or
publication concerning this phenomenon. Thus far, I have found the
"Reporting Highlights of the Mayerne Programme" published by
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW).

I trust I have raised your interest in the curiosity of weeping
paint and would very much appreciate any feedback or information you
can provide me with.

Jenny Schulz
Paintings, Sculptures, Contemporary Art
University of Applied Science Cologne
50678 Cologne, Germany


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:31
               Distributed: Wednesday, November 21, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-31-018
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