Recoating Calder's Flamingo

Alexander Calder, Flamingo, 1974
For the General Services Administration

Award:

Introduction

This GSA project was a preservation action to halt serious corrosion and restore original appearances to a unique GSA sculpture, one receiving both international recognition and holding public symbolic significance. The work of this project brought new industrial coating materials and the methodologies of the modern steel coatings industry to bear on a problem which was addressed three times in the past by simple, but ineffective, repainting.

Driving the proposal and the work was economy—achieving the most for the least cost—while remaining within the ethics peculiar to the developed profession of art conservation which recognizes the eventual need for intervention in original artistic materials but accepts it only under the guidance of established standards of practice. Hence, in this project, an ideal balance was sought in which work and materials respectful to the artistic nature of the structure tempered purely economic drive.

For the first time, the care of this sculpture was brought under the direction of a conservation professional in a new program of contracting by GSA for the care of its artistic holdings. For the first time, substantial work, costly materials and methods, and closely supervised practices were proposed by the contractor and accepted by GSA as the most economical approach to diminish recurring future problems. While there are performance histories for the materials and methods utilized in this project which promise a long, economical life (25 + years) for the initially high up-front costs, this project is a “time-will-tell” pilot in economy for future preservation work on similar sculpture.

Significance

The Fine Arts in New Federal Buildings Program (now called the Art-in-Architecture Program) operating within the General Services Administration commissioned Flamingo by Alexander Calder through the architects of the Chicago Federal Center. The 54 foot tall painted steel sculpture was installed on the plaza in 1974, its graceful curves and brilliant orange complementing and contrasting with the black and blocky enormity of the Mies van der Rohe buildings closing in and towering around it. The sculpture was received in a public ceremony never before nor since equaled in scale nor in fanfare.

No work of art commissioned by the GSA Art-in-Architecture Program is more a symbol of this unique federal patronage of public art; none functions more in line with its ideals; none occupies public and GSA employee space more than this graceful but enormous creation. While this sculpture marks the energetic renewal of the Art-in-Architecture Program from a pause of several years, its complete restoration in 1998 marks another significant moment in the program: regrouped and innovative federal preservation action on an accumulated backlog of maintenance and preservation needs among the Art-in-Architecture installations.

There is this additional significance to the project which shines from its example under GSA’s new contracting program for conservation of the Fine Arts Collection: the project was designed and completed under an innovative three-year national indefinite quantity sculpture contract. Under this new program, GSA outsourced its local administrative burden of sourcing and contracting conservation for regional projects to a single private firm, McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory, Inc., under contract to provide this sourcing and administration on a national scope. Further, by placing the conservation of regional public sculpture under one firm which works closely with the Fine Arts Collection coordinater in Washington, a familiarity and consistency is achieved through the single point-to-point relationship. GSA is thereby able to solicit, guide and accept in an easier and therefore more cost-efficient manner a coherent activity in the preservation of its collection throughout all its twelve geographic regions. The art benefits and GSA benefits in this program from savings in local administrative time and from a release of some burdens in central coordination.

Meeting GSA Requirements

To meet GSA requirements for the performance of work under the contract described above, the contractor for the Calder restoration had to have substantial familiarity with the potentials and the limitations of current industrial coatings materials and knowledge of various industrial practices and project management as well as equal familiarity with the ethics and standards of the art conservation profession. In this regard, preservation projects of monumental sculpture such as Flamingo are unique undertakings.

Calder’s Flamingo is an industrial steel structure wrought to an artistic plane. Within the new national indefinite quantity contract, under which the Calder project was performed, are strong mandates for art conservation practices of the highest order. While these ideal practices have been guided by the Ethics and Standards of Practice of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artists Works (AIC), professional interpretation is clearly required in applying these ethics and standards to monumental artistic objects of industrial materials. Meeting GSA requirements in this project then, was much integration of the industrial and artistic realms.

In providing a high-performance, high-quality industrial coating to Flamingo, the contractor was of sufficient experience in the industrial coatings field to design, specify, oversee, and inspect a standard industrial coatings process but also see that it was performed to a level of skill and quality beyond which is normally offered to, say, steel bridges and water tanks. This was achieved both through careful selection of an industrial coatings subcontractor as well as very close, demanding and, at times, confrontational management of the critical on-site work.

The excellent result, in being a product wrought from both art and industry, mimicks the similarly wrought nature of the sculpture itself.

Environmental Goals

Removal of coatings and lead primer

This project included a lead abatement of the original basic lead (red lead) primer by a licensed subcontractor and the safe disposal of twelve 55 gallon drums of lead contaminated waste by a licensed waste handler in full compliance with State of Illinois EPA requirements.

For public safety and due to the limitations of cost-effective containment, the accumulated coatings and primer were removed by chemical means rather than blasting. Abrasive blasting of the coating was also equally prohibited because the Alexander Calder Foundation discourages the practice on the grounds that such work will wear the original surface of the steel.

Complete removal of the original coating and accumulated re-paintings was necessary because of the high accumulated thickness—beyond 30 mil (30/1000 in.). The proposed new primer, an epoxy, which would serve as an exceptionally tough barrier against human and natural forces, develops its own forces on curing which can cause disbondment of weak underlayers. Hence, for optimum performance of the recoating which provides economy through longevity, it was judged to be desirable to return to the bare steel surface as the foundation for the new coating.

Aesthetic Issues

Not only accurate color but a very specific surface quality was required in the due performance of the contract. While an even finish is readily achieved by spray applications of industrial coatings, this method was prohibited by the high cost of containment necessary to protect the public, environment and adjacent properties. The coatings on Flamingo, then, were applied by brush and roller which required great care and skill to avoid overlapping marks. The final coating, in fact, had to be applied a second time with a slight change in technique after the first attempt was judged to be imperfect.

A match for the original color was achieved through research among GSA documents, consultations with the Calder Foundation and suppliers of past coatings for various Calder sculptures, and on-site checking against a similar “Calder Red” or bright orange Calder in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Through this work, we are assured that the color of Flamingo today is an accurate recreation of its originally intended color.

To achieve the mat surface of the original coating, the manufacturer of the proposed silicone alkyd coating pushed the ability of the product in accepting a matting agent. The result is a material meeting the original in color and surface but with the superior color retention properties and protection against moisture penetration available in this new product.

Meeting Specific Needs

Removal of mill scale

The most critical need in this industrial coating project was achieving the optimum performance of the products applied. Without this, the intended economy of the complete restoration would not be achieved. Adhesion is critical to performance, especially adhesion of the epoxy primer to the steel. During paint removal, it was discovered that the steel was coated with black mill scale. While the original and now illegal lead primer adheres well to mill scale, epoxy primers do not. Actually, the weakness is the bond of the hard mill scale to the steel. During the curing of epoxy primers. stresses develop that can pop mill scale from the steel. In order to remove the mill scale, the removal process had to be negotiated with the Calder Foundation as it constitutes, in the strict sense, alteration of the original substrate.

Mill scale is a very hard, un-hydrated form of iron oxide (FeO) which forms on hot steel in the air at the mill. It was removed from the entire surface of the sculpture by special abrasive pads on powered tools. This was not only brutally difficult from an operator’s perspective, it required close attention to a balance between completeness and restraint on the part of the inspector.

Proficiency of Performance

Completed recoating

Industrial coatings such as used in the system of coatings on this sculpture are demanding in application method and techniques. Mixing, ambient temperatures and humidity, and timing of applications are critical in achieving the optimum in system performance. This is not simply “painting;” it is industrial coatings application. A professional organization has been formed for those in this work: SSPC—the Society for Protective Coatings (formerly the Steel Structures Painting Council). For this reason, industrial coatings are usually applied by a contractor for an owner under the constant supervision and documentation of a third party inspector. This oversight and documentation was considered important in this project and was provided by an industry and SSPC trained staff member of the project contractor. This project was designed by, managed, and under the daily inspection of this GSA contractor. Having a coatings inspector who was also the project contractor and project designer helped to see this project run smoothly to conclusion. Throughout the process, many technical difficulties were overcome by the ability of the inspector to make immediate decisions on or alterations in the specifications as necessary for an optimum end product while not straying from the overall project design and intentions.

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