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After Hirst and Emin... where?

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Claire Bartlett

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Posted
Have read of this article: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/05/why-is-modern-art-so-bad/ It likens current trends in `modern` art to the ossified `academic` art and the sentimentalised Rococo schools that preceded the Impressionists. If the article is right - that the current trend is a place that fututre artists will react against to produce a new movement - where will it go?

Dennis Spicer

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They may have separated, so knead the tubes a bit before you open them. if air has got to them they may have gone hard, but assuming they are ok, I don't think oil paint has a use by date.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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It should be fine, provided the caps were screwed on properly - you might have a bit of trouble removing them after 30 years, though: my usual method (since I have some very old tubes) is to run the hot tap over the cap and thread. If the paint has partially hardened - ie, if it has lumps in it - it's better to chuck it. Not because it can't be used, but because it'll be a blithering nuisance to use, and will spoil your experience. You don't want to be picking the lumps out with a pair of tweezers. I have some tubes of paint that are round about as old as I am, because I inherited them - Georgian oils again, mostly: made long before Mr Rowney met Mr Daler.

Martin Kinnear

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Hi Neil, As with any old paint just be aware that that the quality of synthetic pigments, and the toxicity of some more traditional ones has changed over the years. I'd expect to see some litharge or lead carbonate, and maybe even some toxic chrome in white or yellow paints from that date. I'd also be careful with any cheap crimsons or blues as Alizarin and Prussian Blue wern't as well made way back then.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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Yes, should have thought of that - any tubes you might have of genuine Chrome Yellow, for instance, Emerald Green or Cobalt Violet - or certain kinds of vermilion - would need to be used with care. I do rather take that for granted with old oils - ie, hand hygiene, ventilated room etc, but it's as well to be reminded. Martin refers also to oil separation - if you squeeze a little colour on the palette and you get a puddle of oil, followed by a sort of coloured paste, don't use it - except maybe in a throw-away study. And the lead whites - they do need care, of course; I'd have thought though that an old tube of Flake White will have turned to an unusable, semi-solid state: that's certainly what seems to happen to it now it's sold in tins, to my annoyance... No matter how I try to save it.