Materiais plásticos no acervo da pinacoteca do estado de São Paulo: a Fonte das Nanás de Niki de Saint Phalle

Abstract

This paper presents a problematical aspect of the conservation of contemporary art concerning the use of plastic materials in works of art by the artists. The Nanas Fountain, one of Niki de Saint Phalle works, belonging to the collection of Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, waschosen as case study. It was built using polyester resin and fiber glass that presents some structural, paint and coating layers degradations, occurring due to the exposure to environmental factors and also due to the original intention of the artist, by creating the piece as a water fountain. This theses brings together a range of studies that comprise historical and conceptual researches, the artist relationship with others artists and art movements, analyzes the materials of the artwork, the construction method, its conservation status and the environmental conditions of the exhibition area. Pinacoteca do Estado encouraged myself to get in contact to The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), to Niki Charitable Art Foundation (NCAF) and to participating in conferences and congresses on the same topic. I was supported by the museum to get in contact to museums that have artworks of Niki De Saint Phalle, acquiring specific bibliography and to work at the organization of a workshop in Plastics Conservation, held in the museum laboratory in 2012. After that I could make a survey on the plastics artworks within the collection of Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo with the purpose of characterization of a particular polymer. The database of the museum collection will be filled, in a short time, with this final information which in the future will guide the specifications, in regular bases, of the methods of conservation, storing, handling and displaying these artworks.