Problem Cracked Painting: What Can Be Done?

[gpsch]

Hi all. Newby to this forum, but I saw other threads helped me understand what I have done wrong/what to do to avoid this problem in the future.
I and hoping to gain extra clarity on my specific problem here.

Painting is acrylic on heavyweight cotton canvas. It has been varnished with 3 coats.

Long and short of it is, I had this painting submitted to a gallery. It was delivered and displayed without issue, but when I received it back here in MA, I left it rolled up face side in (which I now have learned is the wrong direction) for longer than I should have (about 3 months). It was rolled pretty tightly for it's size (6ft), and now I am left with some of these cracks due to improper storage.

The damage is done. It might not be super noticeable unless you get up close with it. Wanted to know if there is any risk to re-stretching the canvas, or if there is something that should be done to protect it going forward to mitigate further damage. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Gregory

 

[Finest Fabric]

Cool work, it's yours...?

Acrylic paintings have confounded conservators for many years, as there
are too many formulations to count.
Reasons for damage (aside from improper tight rolling) are
many but big ones could be paint formulation itself and interaction between different media, method of application (i.e. how long or soon additional layers are applied),
and improper ground (primer or gesso layer)

Best advice is to know your materials well and stick with them, if you are concerned about longevity.
....And regardless avoid rolling them if possible

Since it's your work, you might be willing to attempt repair?
Seek advice and do some research but I'd likely approach it like this..

Restretch on proper stretchers lightly and let it rest a few days.
Make sure it's stable and
Then key it out to tension ( or restretch then key if necessary)

If stretching causes concerns about further damage, consider mounting
this piece permanently to a hard substrate for better dimensional stability

Re-adhere cracked areas carefully with an adhesive such as Beva 371 solution, fill and in-paint as necessary

 

[gpsch]

Cool work, it's yours...?

Acrylic paintings have confounded conservators for many years, as there
are too many formulations to count.
Reasons for damage (aside from improper tight rolling) are
many but big ones could be paint formulation itself and interaction between different media, method of application (i.e. how long or soon additional layers are applied),
and improper ground (primer or gesso layer)

Best advice is to know your materials well and stick with them, if you are concerned about longevity.
....And regardless avoid rolling them if possible

Since it's your work, you might be willing to attempt repair?
Seek advice and do some research but I'd likely approach it like this..

Restretch on proper stretchers lightly and let it rest a few days.
Make sure it's stable and
Then key it out to tension ( or restretch then key if necessary)

If stretching causes concerns about further damage, consider mounting
this piece permanently to a hard substrate for better dimensional stability

Re-adhere cracked areas carefully with an adhesive such as Beva 371 solution, fill and in-paint as necessary

Thank you! Yes, the painting is one of my works.

As far as I understand, I used relatively high quality material (Golden heavy body acrylic, Liquitex Gloss Varnish). I definitely am open to repairing it. This is just the first time I have encountered something like this, so I do not know the best approach. If it can withstand stretching, I would like to do this.

Beva 371 is a relatively thick adhesive?
I also have considered filling the cracked bits with 24k goldleaf (I have some left over from a previous project)

Thanks for sharing your two cents. Really appreciate it ♥

 

[Ylva]

Welcome to the G, Gregory!

Beautiful art and sorry it got damaged. I have seen damage like that before with heavy varnishes. This seems to go all the way into the gesso.
You can try a gentle stretch as suggested already, as long as you use keys.

You have the advantage of being able to in paint if necessary, in case something doesn't go quite rights.

I am not sure if it is possible to remove varnish from an acrylic painting, as with oil. I love working in acrylic but never varnish. I do use glass on some pieces to protect it from dirt and damage and for longevity.

I do like the idea of filling in the cracks with goldleaf. I'll admit to being very curious what that would look like.
'happy accidents' do exist.

 

[tedh]

If it were mine, I would pay a conservator for a consultation, then act on that.

 

[Prospero]

In my nubee days when I didn't know any better I tried cleaning what I thought was an oil painting...
It was actually acrylic. Result? The spirit I used caused it to go very cloudy. So then I decided to wax it.
It looked fine until the wax solvent dried and the it went cloudy again. In the end I went over it with
some stuff that you clean plastic bits on cars with. Worked a treat.
It was a steep learning curve.

As it happened the customer never came back to pick it up so it remains on my wall to this day as a
reminder not to be rash.

That's acrylics for you.

They are best used on a solid ground. Oil paints remain flexible for decades but acrylics are a relatively
modern innovation. Some artists back in the '40s/'50s jumped on this new paint but years later some of
their work went downhill and is essentially unrestorable. One of these was David Hockney whos paintings
go for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$s.