When I began working this year with matte duralar, a translucent plastic film, I wanted to embrace the material, to let it move and breathe, be immediate -- and not mount it under glass.
I am working with laser image transfers to the duralar using acrylic medium. There is likely a chemical bond between the plastic particles in the laser toner and the acrylic medium, and between the acrylic medium and the duralar.
To be sure the combined material and process are robust and stable, I stress tested the work. I took a discarded piece, applied two thinned coats of fluid matte medium, then once dry cut it into two pieces. One piece stayed inside as the control and the other spent over a week outside in very hot, intense sun as well as some full days in the rain. The result? The two pieces match up and look exactly the same: no stretching, fading or chipping.
I have mounted the work in white shadow boxes with no glass. The duralar pieces are hung by white ring nails 1/4" away from the back of the boxes so they float in their frames. See In Transit and Between.
