Introduction

1Working in the contemporary art scene in Mexico City for the past ten years exposes many cases in which traditional materials, techniques and conservation strategies can meet in unusual ways. There is a difference between the conservation of historical works of art and that of the present: the active participation of the artist. Nevertheless, when the contemporary artist works with objects that have a history behind them, a conservation paradox can arise. Such is the case with artist Gabriel de la Mora, who gives the aging process an aesthetic value. From conception to realization of certain works, the artist works in close collaboration with conservators-restorers.

2In the « Plafones » series, the fabrication and condition of the false ceilings play a crucial role in the artist’s argument for re-materializing an abandoned object. False ceilings dating from the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century were discovered nearly a hundred years later in old buildings in Mexico City. Cross-section analysis and the study of deterioration patterns show the particular manner in which these objects are marked by time. By selectively preserving some signs of decay while stabilizing the material, De la Mora recontextualizes these objects, incorporating conservation techniques such as cleaning and consolidation, while deliberately leaving visible traces of their aging process (Fig.1, Fig.2).

3Traditional restoration techniques for easel paintings -such as cleaning, consolidation of flaking paint and lining- are integrated in the artwork’s creation process. However, treatments like filling and retouching are intentionally avoided to preserve the imprints of time. Although a complete traditional restoration is not carried out, the conservation of the rematerialized objects is guaranteed, ensuring their preservation for future generations.

Changing the Cycle of Use

4Gabriel de la Mora, active in Mexico City since the early 2000s, explores the potential of experimenting with materials, inspired by his admiration for antiquities and historical objects. These items often bear distinctive signs of aging, such as stains, cracks, losses, instabilities, discolorations, and patinas, which he considers aesthetic features worthy of preservation. This philosophy led to the creation of his Plafones series, which emerged from his desire to push the boundaries of what constitutes a painting.

5The false ceilings, or plafones, share a similar stratigraphy with traditional paintings: cotton fabric as the canvas, a ground layer, and a pictorial film (Fig.3). Their primary distinction lies in their original material purpose and function.

7Rather than allowing these ceilings to be discarded, De la Mora intervened at the point of abandonment termed by Schiffer as de facto refuse, performing later what can be called a re-materialization through collaboration with conservators. This intervention reintegrates the ceilings into the manufacture, maintenance, and use phases not as architectural elements but as artworks intended for galleries, museums, and the art market.

Discovery and Preservation of Plafones

8Around 2006, in search of new ways to redefine painting, De la Mora discovered old, abandoned houses at 47 Tonalá Street in Colonia Roma, Mexico City. There, he encountered false ceilings covering the ceilings of structures slated for demolition. With permission from the builders, he extracted several architectural elements, including doors and wall fragments (Fig. 4, Fig.5).

9Although he had limited conservation knowledge, he aimed to stabilize the ceilings through restoration. Seeking a conservator’s expertise during this process allowed De la Mora to develop a unique approach that combines his artistic creation and the conservation discipline to deliver a guideline in his artistic discourse: material responsibility ethics. The collaboration ensured that these materials, which had already survived for over a century, would endure further through conservation. This process imbued the rematerialized ceilings with new significance as art objects, transforming the abandoned materials into durable contemporary works of art (Fig. 6).

Manufacture, Condition and Restoration Treatments: Merging Art and Conservation

11The false ceilings were originally manufactured as pre-primed rolls, ready for installation. Analysis conducted by the Laboratorio de Diagnóstico de Obras de Arte at UNAM revealed that the primer consisted of silica and gypsum, applied to an open-weave cotton fabric. Over this base, lithopone was applied -a pigment mix of zinc sulfide and barium sulfate commonly used in the late 19^th century- it was used in polish varnishes, floor paints and paints for interiors as a substitute of lead white. Lithopone, prone to darkening when exposed to sunlight, often required overpainting, resulting in multiple layers of color over time (Bellei 2015).

12Cross-section analysis of three samples from the Plafones series revealed stratigraphies with up to eight layers of paint (Fig. 7).

13The samples indicate a shift from peach tones in the early layers to a final uniform white, reflecting broader stylistic changes in Mexican domestic architecture at the turn of the 20^th century, as described by Martín Hernández in Arquitectura Doméstica de la Ciudad de México 1890-1925. The Louis XV style, used in early 20th-century newly built homes, featured the application of delicate colors on the walls—and likely on the false ceilings—of various rooms. Colors such as light green, lilac, pearl gray or pink, were profusely used but rarely visible, as these styles were often replaced by uniform whites over the decades (Martín 1981). It is with this white layer that these objects are encountered by the artist.

14The restoration of the false ceiling series aims to fully dignify the object. A false ceiling accumulates years of dust on its hidden side; if a pipeline leaks, it creates a stain that can be visually observed by the artist. Over the years, maintenance has involved numerous layers of paint applied over one another, and sometimes there is poor adhesion between these layers due to the smooth surface left by the previous layer.

15Once the false ceilings were dismantled, cracks formed due to manipulation, transport, and the inherent fragility of the materials. The ceilings, sometimes rolled or folded for transport, were delivered to conservators, who then assessed the scope of restoration required. (Fig.8)

16The treatments followed traditional painting restoration techniques, including mechanical cleaning to remove decades of accumulated dust from the reverse side, and the gentle cleaning of painted surfaces with distilled water.

17Given the weakened state of the century-old fabric, a new support system was necessary. The ceilings were lined with new cotton canvas on aluminum-wood frames, using Lascaux Acrylic Adhesive 303 HV, which provided excellent adhesion properties and remained tacky due to its good ageing properties. The painted layers, showing signs of flaking, were consolidated with Lascaux Acrylic Adhesive 498 HV, applied locally with a brush (Fig. 9). Finally, a protective varnish—Lascaux Transparent Varnish 2 UV Matt—was sprayed to shield the surface of UV damage, ensuring long-term preservation. Lascaux materials have recently been highlighted as adaptable and reliable in various conservation contexts (Ritchie 2023).

The Untouched Cracking Effect

19The final visual result of the Plafones series is a monochromatic surface characterized by the visible signs of time and manipulation. A web of cracks — intentionally left untreated — runs across the surface, creating a fragmented appearance. These cracks, along with other marks of manipulation such as folds, contribute to the artwork's overall composition (Fig. 10). Despite the stabilization of the pieces, their deterioration is not concealed but rather embraced as an aesthetic feature. This approach aligns with ICOM's concept of remedial conservation, which aims to stop active deterioration processes while maintaining the structural integrity of an object. Remedial conservation defines as “The actions carried out when the items are in such a fragile condition or deteriorating at such a rate, that they could be lost in a relatively short time” (ICOM, 2010).

20De la Mora’s aesthetic vision challenges traditional conservation objectives, as his works intentionally retain their signs of decay, blurring the boundaries between artistic creation and preservation. In doing so, his approach suggests a new paradigm for conservation within contemporary art, where conservation not only intervenes after a work is produced but becomes an integral part of the creative process while the artist works on the object. Through this lens, conservation becomes a tool that can be adapted to meet the needs of the artist’s vision while still fulfilling its role in ensuring the longevity of the artwork.

An Aesthetic Search of Decay

21The notion of time as a destructor has been well known since the Renaissance. However, the understanding of deterioration as a form of beauty that adds value to works of art emerged in the 17^th century with the Italian engraver Marco Boschini. In his 1660 treatise Carta del Navegar Pittoresco, he states that “time covers paintings with a transparent veil” and “improves the works of great masters” (Martín Lobo 2009). This veil can refer to the term "patina," established by Paul Philippot in 1969, who explains the visual effects of a painting over time.

22When cracks appear, pigments, binders and varnishes are disrupted, leading to a different perception of color and figure. Varnishes undergo a yellowing process, accompanied by a loss of clarity and transparency, which complicates the interpretation of the painting. Patina is depicted as a normal effect of time passing over a painting — not as a purely physical or chemical concept, but as a critical concept that includes aesthetic judgment (Philippot 1969). The patina effect introduced by the artist, especially through the cracking process, must be preserved as it enhances the monochromatic composition central to the Plafones series.

23Cracks, as part of the aging process of painting, were identified in the artistic literature during the same century in which Boschini defined time as beauty. Within a gap of two years, William Sanderson, in his Graphice of 1658, wrote about the Parisian forger Laniere, who mixed his colors with chimney soot to make them look ancient; afterwards, he would roll the false paintings to produce cracks (Sanderson 1658). This indicates that cracks relate to the appreciation of technique, time, and damage in a painted layer. During a restoration process, cracks can traditionally be treated based on their area and size. If they disrupt the painting’s visual potential and reveal instability, they may be considered undesirable. However, if they cover most of a painting as a web or reticule, they can be valued as premature cracks that are left untreated, as they are part of the technique used by the painter.

24Crack typology and definitions were established by Sheldon Keck (Keck 1969), George Stout (Stout 1977), and Spike Bucklow (Bucklow 1997), who discussed cracking development, shapes, causes, and terminology. With these studies, along with new ones that incorporate mathematical analysis, we can now understand the development of cracks in terms of technique, classified as drying cracks, stress cracks from the canvas, or stretch marks, as well as cracks that appear once a painting is finished, such as mechanical stresses in temperature and humidity, or cracks caused by impact or percussion, among other factors.

25Crack arrangements create a visual reticule, a structure that can have order or lack it, and serve as an aesthetic foundation in the Plafones series. The use of a reticule or grid has a modern inheritance attributed to the Cubists, who were the first to include this symbol as an evident visual mark, allowing viewers to see and accept it as a legitimate artistic element, distinct from previous forms of expression. Rosalind Krauss, a modern art critic and theorist, wrote about what a grid can represent, which relates to how groups of cracks articulate both an image and a physical phenomenon on the surface of a painting: “The physical qualities of the surface, we could say, are mapped onto the aesthetic dimensions of the same surface. And those two planes — the physical and the aesthetic — are demonstrated to be on the same plane, coextensive” (Krauss 1986).

26In this way, grids, as a group of cracks — a physical manifestation of stress in the paint film caused by various forces, a traditional agent of decay and aging — also embody a visual aesthetic intention that should be conserved. Thus, the grid appears as an emblem of modern art. Conservation science and logic can interpret the grid, but it can also provide a release into belief and represent the unconscious, the spiritual essence of time.

Benjamin, Huberman and the Aura

27It is important to consider how the Plafones series and all of their evident signs of decay have been identified by De la Mora. As contemporary art curator Willy Kautz states, “In the intersection between reality and concrete phenomenology, his work opens the gaze to what we do not see” (Kautz 2015). A parallel example of this is how Didi-Huberman examines the concept of image anachronism using the example of four paintings under the Madonna of the Shadows fresco by Fra Angelico (1395–1455) in San Marco Convent, Florence. Four different representations of false marble designs underline the main painting, and they are compared to one of contemporary art’s archetypes: the development of action painting or gestural abstraction led by Jackson Pollock (1912–1956). The visual result of both is very similar, despite the approximately 500 years that separate them. Huberman then proposes the theory that anachronism crosses each contemporary moment.

28In this sense, overlooked, abandoned false ceilings can be considered with an anachronic gaze; they can be rematerialized into an artwork that is part of the present. In this detection process, the artist uses an “auratic filter” in his view which assigns value and the will to conserve these artworks. Aura, as Walter Benjamin defines it, refers to the “appearance of remoteness” (Benjamin 2003). Huberman can connect this concept to the ways in which contemporary artists describe new methods of experiencing an object. For example, when Barnett Newman explains the evolution of his work Onement 1 as a consequence of his experience with indigenous mounds in Akron, Ohio, he describes how the great power of presence in the mounds invaded him. This knowledge led him to convey in a painting a way to evoke the same power in a viewer.

29The individual experiment that Gabriel de la Mora conducted with the false ceilings is similar in this sense to the process of making the remote appear. This is an auratic activity enhanced by the conservation treatments applied to the object, allowing it to present the characteristics and materials, typically overlooked, with the imprints of time. These imprints are intended not to diminish the object but to highlight their aesthetic potential, thereby redefining standards of beauty.

Conclusions

30This case of contemporary art meeting conservation during its creative process, as well as studying the Plafones series from its phenomenological and material perspective, proposes a new method to study contemporary art and its conservation. Here two worlds can coexist, and the intimate knowledge brought by material studies can also provide meaning to the creative and artistic discourse as well as providing the means to endure. Material experimentation in contemporary art is complex and remains central to conservation discussions due to its often-questionable stability. This case shows an option on how conservators and artists can work together to promote an infinite material source but also the means to conserve them once its re-materialization is done. The deep understanding of the meaning in contemporary art is intrinsically connected to its materiality and conservation. The conservator acts as a translator between the artist and the viewer.