Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/23/another-flawless-art-restorati.html
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Where do people get the idea that the work of a talented artist is something anyone can reproduce or repair?
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How exactly does someone not ask for a portfolio of experience from a restorer before comissioning something like this?
I say this as someone who’s cousin nearby is a professionally trained painting restorationist. She does frames too, I’ve machined braces to fix a frame for her before on a multi-million dollar painting. Anyone she gets commissioned by sees her studio and her previous work portfolio.
This just strikes me as an idiot owning something too valuable for them to care for.
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Seeing that lovely painting ruined really hurts my soul
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The more mind boggling thing to me is that if you are going to restore a piece of art, why would you completely paint over the whole thing? In my mind restoration involves carefully scraping away the overly oxidized parts of the painting and then carefully replacing those with the original color. Not just bringing the canvas to your local drink & paint night to practice your skills.
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I think this story is a very good example of our modern “entrepreneur culture” and how it is supercharged by social media. I bet the furniture guy watched a large heap of viral out-of-context art restoration snippets, such as this one, on Youtube and thought to himself; “Yeah, I can do that”.
Fake it 'till you make it, and so on.
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As a tonic; I love this guy’s work.
This is part one of two videos about this restoration. Very soothing in stressful time.
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Oddly enough, when the restore is removed and restored the artwork will be more valuable than ever due to publicity.
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I think what happened is that the restorer was hired to clean the painting, and did so with turps, at which point there really wasn’t much of a painting left at all, pants are shat, and the “restoration” proceeds from there.
Even the popular pro restorer youtubers seem to be reviled by their peers for the aggressive hands-on style they use in them. And they’re doing it with the lightest solvents and cottonballs known to science.
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the look on the clients face when viewing their restored work must be priceless. perhaps a look of shock dismay and homicide all rolled into one expression.
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It’s like she’s standing right there. If you squint. After heavy drinking. In the dark. While looking somewhere else.
From their parents, or any asshole who has a “nephew with Photoshop” when it comes to Graphic Design.
I feel like that’s a Mr. Bean episode. It’s tugging at my pop culture nerves.
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In my early days as a coder, clients who didn’t give graphic design the respect it was due used to bug the hell out of me. My standard UIs were mostly gunmetal grey. If they complained, I’d tell them my job was to make something functional - so they’d have to hire a designer to make it pretty.
Of course, those were the same clients who’d present me with mock-ups full of ten different eye-watering colors. 
Sometimes, changing to grey seemed like the best way to protect my vision. I did not envy the designers who decided to work with them.
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Worst. Deepfake. Ever.
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Well, even more reason to have not given to that guy in first place.
I’ve watched my cousin work- she uses only tiny things like Tex wipes with minute amounts of solvents for her work, similar to what I might use to work on an antique 200 year old watch in certain areas.
At no point have I ever seen her use rags soaked in anything. It’s my understanding serious professionals in that field take large amounts of time to do such work.
She’s worked for the National Gallery in DC, and others privately, and I’ve seen her work, so even though I’m no expert on what she does, I can guess she must be at least very good at what she does.
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Thank you!
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Why would you restore an artwork? It’s meant to be as it’s meant to be. If it degrades over time so be it and it shows the history.
Would you get a concrete company to come make the pyramids smooth again?
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In this case the artist painted the same composition many times, and thus each “copy” is in competition with the others. “More valuable than ever” may not be a realistic expectation for this collector.
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