The Life Span of Plastic Art

Fellow appraiser and art dealer Peter Kostoulakos just sent me this interesting article from Slate.com by Sam Kean. Kean looks at art which incorporates plastics and how museums are discovering that it deteriorates. Not only does it deteriorate, but over time as it deteriorates it can also destroy other objects which come into contact with it, even items in the same display case. As appraisers, we should be aware of the potential effects, the types of plastic which are most prone to have issues, how to identify issues and how the expected deterioration may impact future values.

Peter makes an interesting point as conservator of paintings for over 20 years. He has been using mineral spirit acrylic coatings, he now is wondering if over many years theses coatings of acrylic may be harmful to cultural property.

The Slate article by Kean states The casualty list is appalling: Antique plastic dolls at the National Museum of Denmark have begun to peel and flake; classic furniture at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London might as well have been left out in the sun for years; the first-ever plastic toothbrush, at the Smithsonian, is collapsing into a pile of crumbs; etc. A whole generation of irreplaceable items that are as representative of our culture as pottery or flintheads were of ancient ones are dying—and many people charged with their care have no idea how to stop further damage.

Kean continues Worst of all, when plastics weep and bleed they can corrupt everything around them. Chemicals evaporate from their surface and acidify any moisture inside a display case. This causes mini bouts of acid rain that in turn eat away at the plastic in nearby objects—as well as any cloth, metal, or paper in those objects. Curators can lay down special carbon cloths beneath a plastic object to absorb some acid, but some plastics have to be quarantined immediately. Museums have also used plastics to coat nonplastic objects like silver (to prevent tarnishing) and paintings (to prevent flaking). But plastic coatings often "bloom" and turn opaque or "crizzle" (i.e., wrinkle) like dried rubber cement, changes that can damage the very object the coating was meant to preserve.

To read the Slate article, click HERE. If you too have an interesting article you would like to share with AW Blog readers, please forward them on to me. I cant cover the art and appraisal news and the additional articles should appeal to more appraisers and make the blog better.