Public Art Conservation—Painted Concrete & Outdoor Sculpture

painted metal and concrete fountain restoration

Mermaid, by Roy Lichtenstein

 
Roy Lichtenstein’s Mermaid is the artist’s first large scale public art commission. Fabricated as a site-specific installation for the City of Miami Beach, the artwork comprises a monumental sculpture in the artist’s signature style, a reflecting pool, and a palm tree. In 2010, RLA was asked by the City’s Department of Art in Public Places to perform a temporary treatment on the work to address extensive wear and tear, including fading paint, gouges and losses to the concrete, corrosion of the steel
elements, and general paint loss. RLA determined through testing and observation that the red and blue paints were entirely the wrong colors. Numerous repainting campaigns performed by untrained City staff had exacerbated shifts in the color, and at the moment of examination the piece bore no resemblance to the
original.

Because the City viewed this as a temporary treatment in preparation for a large scale move of the artwork, RLA was only able to address underlying matters of corrosion and water intrusion into the steel elements in a superficial manner. Damage to the concrete was repaired and all the colors were compounded to determine whether it was possible to work with the existing palette for the yellow, white, and black. Working with conservators from Getty Museum, we were able to obtain paint samples for producing more accurate colors for the red and blue repainting. Following the initial treatment, RLA was asked to provide a conservation plan for the reflecting pool, also carried out in 2010. In 2016, RLA was asked again to provide a temporary treatment for the artwork. The work performed included corrosion mitigation and partial repainting of the sculpture.