Contemporary artists are repurposing painted scrap metals as art mediums and like any materials, they deteriorate. However, sustained studies on paint coatings of industrial objects are still scarce, even within industrial heritage, which primarily focuses on heritage machines and tools. To gain an enhanced understanding of the coatings of industrial objects in contemporary art, we used two sculptures of Mozambican artist Gonçalo Mabunda, “Eu sou das Massas” and “Dá ao Povo o que é do César,” as case studies. His sculptures are made of coated scrap metals undergoing paint loss due to corrosion. This study aims to provide critical insights that will contribute to developing appropriate conservation strategies for artworks utilizing coated scrap metals. To achieve our goal, two approaches were combined for an enhanced understanding of the materiality of the sculptures, their corrosion, and the artist’s stance regarding their preservation: an artist interview and scientific analyses. Through the interview, we discovered the motivations behind the artist's creative decisions and uncovered some of his conflicting attitudes toward conservation. For scientific analysis, we sampled the paint coatings of two of his sculptures and observed their cross-sections using optical microscopy. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy was employed to identify the elemental composition of the paint coatings, while Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR) Spectroscopies were used for molecular analyses. The identified pigments, phthalocyanine blue and green, chrome yellow and yellow-orange, goethite, azo red, red iron oxide, and titanium white, were those that have been reportedly used on industrial heritage objects from the past two centuries. Barium sulphate, the identified filler, has also been reported. Their continued use to this day signifies their durability and effectiveness in coating systems. Meanwhile, the identification of alkyd as the binder for almost all of the coatings is in line with the coating industry’s shift to synthetic binders in the 20th Century. Investigation of the paint coatings in Mabunda’s sculptures led to the characterization of a vastly different type of coating, a multi-layered retroreflective sheet. To our knowledge, this silica-lined coating is a novel material to be analyzed in a conservation context. Meanwhile, the artist’s execution of soldering metal pieces together also enabled us to analyze some degradation processes that coatings may undergo due to extreme temperatures. The findings suggested that while pigments may not degrade at certain temperatures, the binder will, thus highlighting the importance of investigating other significant components of coatings, too. The results gathered using multi-analytical and interdisciplinary approaches are an important base for the material study of industrial paint coatings and the definition of a conservation strategy for materials recycled as contemporary artworks.
Date of Award | 11 Dec 2024 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | - Universidade Católica Portuguesa
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Supervisor | Nuno Camarneiro (Supervisor) & Isabel Tissot (Co-Supervisor) |
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- Industrial paint coatings
- Recycled metals
- Contemporary art
- Material studies
- Conservation
- Mestrado em Conservação e Restauro de Bens Culturais
Industrial coatings under the spotlight: composition of paint layers of coated scrap metals in contemporary art
Mendoza, C. G. L. (Student). 11 Dec 2024
Student thesis: Master's Thesis