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ABSTRACT
With the arrival of the digital age and technology, creation of art and its replication reached a whole new pinnacle. Increasingly, conservators find themselves dealing with editions, copies, and replicas as part of their job. Indeed, the replication of a work of art, be it paper or a 3D printed sculpture, is becoming one of many conservation measures that may serve as a preventive conservation technique, protecting the art from excess levels of light, travel, or handling, or as a tool to better understand the art. Replication of a digitally existing master for each new display may be the artist’s intent, or enable simultaneous multiple displays of the same work as per the artist’s directive. This article describes the making of an Exhibition Copy of the American artist Mike Kelley’s The Wages of Sin, a pile of partly melted wax candles atop a readymade, commercially sourced table. Owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the highly complex three-dimensionality and materiality of this iconic work of art posed significant challenges to replicate. The following description illuminates the conceptual aspects considered, why and how the replica was made, and decision-making processes throughout its fabrication, exploring materiality and technical issues. The role of the Whitney’s Replication Committee in this project is discussed, including participation of its curators, archivists, and other museum professionals, along with an explanation of the Committee’s choice of the term ‘Exhibition Copy’ to describe the replica. The account of the collaboration and coordination of the project with the Mike Kelley Foundation and external fabricators is central to this comprehensive project. Ramifications for future use of the Exhibition Copy within the museum management, documentation, loans, and wall labels, and its legal and publication consequences conclude this paper.
Acknowledgements
In addition to the contractors, Direct Dimensions and LifeFormations, participants of this replication project included two representatives, Mary Clare Stevens, Executive Director, and Mark Lightcap, long-time assistant to Kelley and Collection Manager of the Kelley Foundation. Curators from the Whitney Museum of American Art included Dana Miller, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of Collection; Jennie Goldstein Assistant Curator; David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of Curatorial Initiatives; Elisabeth Sussman Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography; and Jane Panetta, Curator and Director of the Collection, many of whom participated at certain periods of the project. Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Melva Bucksbaum Associate Director for Conservation and Research, secured funding and provided overall guidance for conservation and theoretical aspects of replication. Nick Holmes General Legal Counsel, Beth Turk, Editor, Publications, Anita Duquette, Senior Visual Resources Manager, Farris Wahbeh Benjamin and Irma Weiss Director of Research Resources; Barbi Spieler, Head Registrar, Permanent Collection; Heather Cox, Senior Conservation Coordinator, and Melissa Amundsen conservation intern contributed in their respective field to the project. Additional members of the Replication Committee involved in the project were Chrissie Illes, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator; Clara Rojas-Sebasta, Ellsworth Kelly Conservator of Works on Paper; Kim Donaty, Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints; Margo Delilow, Assistant Conservator; and Matthew Skopek, Associate Conservator. The author thanks for their participation the following specialists; Madison Wade Project and Production Manager, Technical and Finishing Artist, Bret Woodburry Principal of Sale, Blake Vandussen Lead Digital Artist, Marc Maley Lead Finishing, Molding and Casting Artist, Katelyn Wolary Finishing Artist, Derek Alderfer Finishing Artist, Rob Jefferson Finishing Artist, Caitlin Gilchrist Finishing Artist, Chris Coppoletti Digital and Technical Artist, William Brady Milling, Structural and Technical Artist, Angela Pulvere Surface Refinement of 3D Prints pre-molding, Kane Sargent 3D Printing Technician, Jacob Snyder Molding Artist, of LifeFormations for their dedication to this project, and Harry Abramson, Director of Art and Collections; Jeff Mechlinski, Technical Director; and Dominic Albanese, Director of R&D of Direct Dimensions, who performed the 3D scanning.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 This ‘Mike Kelley’ retrospective 15 December 2012–28 July 2014 was organized by Ann Goldstein, then Director of the Stedelijk Museum. The third venue of the retrospective at MoMA/ PS 1 had a different title from the other venues: An Homage to Mike Kelley.
2 Personal discussion of the author with Mary Clare Stevens, Executive Director of the Mike Kelley Foundation. Date 10 December 2012. Kelley never put his explicit verbal desire in writing.
4 (http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/) (https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tatepapers/.08/terminology-for-further-expansion).
5 See note 4 for the post-conference publication.