I have to review my list all of the reasons why I have continued to work on my self-named, "Photo-Frescos" from time to time to recall what I am doing. Call
it what you want, but the original concept is lost inside the complexity of the process itself and unless I enumerate the benefits of what I am after in the
final product, then I can't quite recall why I am so deeply involved in the product that I am making now.
Durability. Durability can mean many things,
but to me it means more than archival permanence. Archival permanence is for items that are kept in relatively controlled environments. I have lost too much
work to water damage, mildew, rodents, wind and slow erosion by sand. I have watched work dissolve and change colors. I have seen my pieces melt in the heat
and dissolve in the rain. Durability means having a fighting chance at survival in relatively harsh conditions without excessive coatings that require
maintenance of their own. Cave drawings and outside murals are underlying influences and weather is not a friend to outside art.
I work outside and often leave my pieces to fight for survival as a part of the process. Every time I drop a plaster piece and it breaks, I shrug and pick up
the pieces accepting the break as if this is a part of the natural progression of things and it is. I enjoy sometimes gluing back the work to make faux
mosaics, but the glue will only create a new weak link in the final product, so I have moved away from this technique as an exercise in stupidity. I would
like to think that my new work can withstand a fall of 3-5 feet and come out looking pretty good. The wooden frame around the outside is like a bumper and
except for a ding or crack on the inside of the image I think these pieces may take more than a few whacks with a hammer to break them down. This is in sharp
contrast to my work a few months ago that can be snapped with an accidental bump or my heavier pieces that could kill someone if they fell on someone's head.
I do worry about this and only sell my pieces with a disclaimer about hanging them on walls, just not over your bed where you sleep. Thicker is desirable as
an imitation of a wall, and the potential durability of thicker items should be better than thin layers of ink on paper or even paint on canvas. Nothing made
with an ink jet printer or laser printer will survive and even silver photographic prints are subject to the decay of the geletin layers that encase the
silver.
Most of the modern printing and painting processes that we create will dissappear while being stored in garages and storage yards. Our electornic and
magnetic existence stored in hard drives will also quietly dissappear over a few short decades. Sure, even mountains will fall to the ocean, but a thick
strong rock at the core is the only reason the mountain was there in the first place and those types of surfaces will wear down slower than most other
materials. Ceramics are the only comparable items that I feel are truly archival and therefore timeless in a way, but I don't have a kiln and I although I
respect the craft I am not patient enough to go through the drying process. Also most graphics are stuck on with decals which sort of ruins it for me, a
little. The obvious drawback too is the survival rate for ceramics in a fall of 3-5 feet, which is usually not pretty. However, the essence of ceramics is
the underlying crystalline structure being orderly and fixed with the pigments of the print or design on the ceramic as also having reached a state of fixed
a crystalline structure, which in the end results in stronger more durable image that can resist water, dirt and maybe even uv. I suppose this is why
ceramics are some of the oldest artifacts that have been left for us to understand and analyze civilizations of the past.
Wall art and murals have to withstand life as we have to withstand life and the years don't get easier as we age; decay simply goes quicker and the days get
shorter. I don't feel like I am artistically endowed enough to take over walls in public for mural work and my wife won't let me paint on the inside of our
cave, so I have built mini walls by casting in thick wooden frames. I think of it as small walls that have to be strong enough to withstand the same types of
abuse that they might get if they were displayed outside. I've been working with plaster over the last two-five years, but now I have moved to a hybrid
mixture of gypsum that is like plastic, but without the harmful combinations of polyester resins and epoxy. Bonding was also a serious problem when working
with resins. To withstand UV decay I am mixing in metal pigments and atomized metals, cold casting, which results in metallic gel coats that I print and
paint into my mold/frames. Ideally I shouldn't have to coat the top layer of these finished pieces, but I can't be sure unless I let them weather longer to
see the results and I haven't made enough pieces to conclude that they can survive in their birthday suits.
I prefer taking things out of molds that are finished since I usually make things worse by applying more coats of chemicals and I like the feeling of
birthing a piece and it being finished when I peel it from the mold. I used a pressure washer on one piece, which should duplicate the effects of a typhoon,
and the result was a white haze appeared across the surface. Later I coated this is a spray varnish and it dissappeared, but I think the metal washed away
exposing some of the plastic gypsum. Frankly rust and patina should be a part of the process, but I don't want to accelerate these processes as that seems
like encouraging the decay that I am fighting to begin with. I even considered accelerating the metallic decay with acids, then cleaning the pieces and
sealing them with coatings to halt the rust/patina effect, but the underlying chemical decomposition would have begun and that can't be good for longer term
survival. Again I must resist exercises in stupidity, decay is the enemy that will take it's toll anyway.
Framing is built in. I hate framing. Same thing with matting prints and finishing anything completely. I've worked my way around this by creating molds that
I make my pieces in that become the frame in two ways. The outside frame is the wood from old screen printing frames, of which I have over a thousand of,
which keeps my cost down and the wooden exterior is a great bumper, holder and mold making device. The inside frame is designed in the mold, therefore it is
made into the print and works as a finished product with grain thereby giving the effect of a classical frame around the print. When I finish a fresco print
I pull the silicon/urethane mold from the wooden frame and voila, it's framed for the public. No extra work.
Originally I wanted to be a Naval engineer / boat builder of sorts for a career, but it's far more daunting a task than I can accomplish, but this is very
similar to boat building with the plug and mold technique. I sold a boat or two, small dinghys in Sausalito made out of wood, and I am glad that I gave up on
that profession before someone actually took a boat that I made out to see. Still in each molded print I make there is a little boat in there waiting to sail
away in the world of someone else's imagination. All of the same durability issues that boats have to endure as objects in the real world is also how I
visualize photo-frescos. I think this has pushed me past basic outside murals on permanence issues. The only difference between fiberglass boat building and
these works is the addition of images and pigments into the gel coats of the molds before the print is pulled.
I still pay rent for a small Cal 20 sailboat that I work on down in Sausalito. I have tried to make it my painting spot, so that I can go down there and
print on half-finished work then leave it to dry inside the small cabin. This yacht harbor also comes with a parking spot and I have converted my truck to a
gallery so that I can justify my boat rent. I've mounted my frescos on the back of the truck to allow them to whether and to show my work to the hords of
tourist that come off the bus right at my parking spot. This is quite an entertaining process that provides me a link to the waterfront and a way to show my
work. I can't help but think that the boat workers in the area may question the durability of the prints and look at the work in passing as a crafstman
would. The gallery is also anonymous in the sense that nothing is for sale and there are no names representing my work, except for my name printed on my
parking pass in the front windshield of the truck. It's like having a gallery and an outside mural at the same time. An interchangable wall built like a
puzzle.
Printability. Graphical representation with screen printing has been a skill that I have learned and used to make a living my entire career. I like the
duplication that screen printing provides, as well as, the sharp lines that I can consistently make. Photographic screen printing has always been my link
back to photography as it allows me to take a photograph where photography does not allow me to go. Also the cartooning effect that happens when printing in
color inks transcends photos back to graphics and paintings. Photography is too literal in many ways. Photography is also expensive and lacks pop.
Photography is a great tool, but screen printing puts the economy and jazz back into prints. The 35mm street photography of the 20th Century and
photojournalism have changed the way we see ourselves and the world. However the early photographers between 1860-1900 with booths, plates and 5 minute
exposures capture the craftsman in me. Making screens and contact prints for screen printing keeps me busy and makes the photographic process seem hands on
versus the silver print development process in photo labs.
Painting. Has never been one of my greatest skills. In fact I am not a very good painter at all. I used to draw, but everything always looked the same to me.
As far as being a painter, well, I respect the craft and have merged it with screen printing following the success of Warhol and Rauschenberg. I used to sell
paintings on the street, up to the point that I sold 3-400, smaller wooden frames kitschy pop culture iconic prints. Mostly in San Francisco in the 90's, but
then I moved on the t-shirt printing and have jumped in and out of screen print paintings over the years. I've played with Black Velvet, montages and have
never truly liked the inks, but it's been a stepping stone. I like the portability and I like selling the things I make. Some of my printing/paintings have
survived well as I used t-shirt inks and they are very durable for a large part of the work. Others just look dull and boring and I have moved the scattering of prints to storage.
Now that I have listed the reasons for making casted metal fresco prints I have to consider the content. The object itself was not the aestethic, but it does have a large influence on the results.
