{"id":3836,"date":"2018-03-26T22:07:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T22:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/?page_id=3836"},"modified":"2019-12-31T23:54:42","modified_gmt":"2019-12-31T23:54:42","slug":"drosdick","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/v24\/drosdick\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Do what&#8217;s right&#8221;: The conservation of a David Hammons mud sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Sasha Drosdick, Roger Griffith, and Lynda Zycherman<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Abstract<\/h4>\n<p>\u201cDo what\u2019s right,\u201d said the artist, without looking at the sculpture or asking what treatment we proposed. During a surprise visit to the Museum of Modern Art\u2019s conservation studio, the infamously laconic artist David Hammons uttered these three words that encapsulate decades\u2019 worth of conservation theory and ethical debates. What does it mean to do the right thing in art conservation? The 28-inch tall, mud sculpture with wire, human hair, and black-eyed peas presents a plethora of conservation concerns. In 2013, the Museum of Modern Art acquired the sculpture in what appeared to be a deteriorated and unstable state. It required a Plexiglas bonnet for its inaugural exhibition at the museum in 2015. As the work was being deinstalled from that exhibition, a small piece of mud fell from the sculpture and landed on its base. This event, in addition to the work\u2019s condition, led us to question its overall structural stability and strategy for basic conservation maintenance. Without the artist\u2019s explicit guidance, distinguishing between his intentions and the natural deterioration of the sculpture\u2019s inherently fragile materials was challenging. However, finding a solution that would stabilize the work without diminishing its spirit was a challenge that we eagerly accepted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/12\/osg024-020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Download full article<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/postprints\/v24\/\">2017 | Chicago | Volume 24<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sasha Drosdick, Roger Griffith, and Lynda Zycherman Abstract \u201cDo what\u2019s right,\u201d said the artist, without looking at the sculpture or asking what treatment we proposed. During a surprise visit to the Museum of Modern Art\u2019s conservation studio, the infamously laconic artist David Hammons uttered these three words that encapsulate decades\u2019 worth of conservation theory and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"parent":3491,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3836","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3836\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}