A
while ago I received an email from Victoria Lashley. She asks a question
which concerns most artists who work with 'found' imagery:
"I have created some paintings and collaged
sculptures, but one thing keeps bugging me and people ask me about. It is
about found papers, etc. being archival. Someone will look at a piece and say,
well, it's great now, but what about in a year or ten years? It will fade, won't
it? I don't know how to respond because it seems that assumption is an accurate
one.
Yes, I'm asked this question constantly in my workshops. Unfortunately the answer is not particularly simple, but here goes.
It IS true that the better the quality of the magazine paper, the longer it will last. Any photograph, whether in a magazine or your own, will fade in time. It just depends where your painting is hung. I always warn my buyers to avoid direct sunlight at all costs, but it's not necessary to find a really dark corner either, just one where the light is filtered. In California sunlight is especially destructive because it's so strong, but in England, where I originally come from, my paintings will probably last 10 times as many years. I, unfortunately, often use photos from antique magazines. They are already brownish when I incorporate them in the work. Some of them crumble in my hands before I stick them on! I make a point of smothering them in acrylic matte medium, then using a transparent paint like Golden's Transparent Yellow Oxide to stain them, then finishing the whole thing off with a couple of coats of Golden's UVLS medium (which protects against the worst, but not all, effects of sunlight.) By the way, if you coat the papers in wax, as you said you might try to do, this will provide excellent protection, as wax is translucent. A further protection is to frame the collage behind special UV filter glass. I don't do this myself before I sell my work but I tell my customers that it's worth the investment should they consider doing it later. It IS expensive.
Here's another way to increase the life of your found images. Scan them into your computer, then get them printed out on one of the new printers which use lysonic inks. These are said to have a life of many decades and are now fairly widely available. One of my private students, who is a digital artist, uses them. When using really old photos, I almost always scan them, then use the printed version instead of the original. Wait a couple of days for the inks to be totally dry before sticking them onto your support.
Newspaper imagery and text changes color in a few days if left in bright light. This didn't stop Picasso or Schwitters from using it. Some of their collages look very different now from the way they did when first created, but they still look great. Contemporary artists are far less concerned with longevity than artists were 100 years ago. Much found art is designed to disintegrate. The idea that art needs to be preserved for hundreds of years is only important if the artist is very famous or if it is part of another form of art which is intended to last. For example, a decorative painting in an old cathedral. Most people who buy art are only concerned that it will last for a few decades. If you or I ever make it really big on the art scene, WE won't have to care about how archival our artwork is; the museum conservators will be responsible!
Colored tissue paper and wrapping paper pose a greater problem. I never use pre-colored tissue, but simply stain white tissue with paint once it's on the support. With wrapping paper, I usually make sure that there isn't so much that it will completely ruin the composition of it fades. Or I cover it with several coats of transparent paint and medium.