Improving the technology of repair painting with powder-coated paints in agro-industrial complex

The article presents the results of studies to determine the dependence of the degree of adhesion and the separation force of the powder coatings layer on the roughness parameter of the substrate, as well as the contact angle of wetting for various methods of preparing the painted surface by chemical methods. In addition, practical tests for stain resistance were carried out, which showed the absence of corrosion damage, as well as a slight change in color, gloss of coatings, chalking and dirt retention on the studied coating samples.

The transformation of Adriaen Thomasz. Key’s Portrait of William of Orange

When the iconic portrait of William of Orange by Adriaen Thomasz Key was brought to the conservation studio of the Mauritshuis, examination of the radiograph showed that part of the painting was not original. Prior to the painting’s arrival in the Mauritshuis, the left plank of the original oak support had been lost or removed, and replaced by another plank. Also, the whole painted surface, except for the face, was broadly overpainted. During the recent treatment, the conservators made the decision to remove most of the overpaint, and retouch the painting in an illusionistic way. Different options were considered for re-integrating the addition. This paper discusses the ethical and historical aspects that played an important role in the decisions to restore this painting.

Air Layer on Superhydrophobic Surface for Frictional Drag Reduction

We examined the feasibility of combining a superhydrophobic surface (SHS) and air layer drag reduction (ALDR) to achieve the frictional drag reduction (DR) shown achievable with traditional ALDR, but at a reduced gas flux to increase the achievable net energy savings. The effect of a commercial SHS coating on the gas flux required to maintain a stable air layer (AL) for DR was investigated and compared with that of a painted non-SHS at Reynolds numbers up to 5.1 X 106. Quantitative electrical impedance measurements and more qualitative image analysis were used to characterize surface coverage and to determine whether a stable AL was formed and maintained over the length of the model. Analysis of video and still images for both the SHS and painted surface gives clear indications that the SHS is able to maintain AL consistency at significantly lower gas flux than required on the non-SHS painted surface. Hydrophobicity of the surfaces was characterized through droplet contact angle measurements, and roughness of all the flow surfaces was measured. The results from these preliminary experiments seem to indicate that for conditions explored (up to Rex = 5.1 X 106), there is a significant decrease in the amount of gas required to establish a uniform AL (and hence presumably achieve ALDR) on the SHS when compared with a hydraulically smooth painted non-SHS.

The Hanging Garlands of Pompeii: Mimetic Acts of Ancient Lived Religion

Roman painting is full of items associated with religious practice. Garlands, in particular, are found represented in Roman frescoes, often draped over different panels to enliven the painted surface with the semblance of abundant fresh flowers. There are indications, however, that in Roman domestic spaces, latrines, and streets, physical garlands were actually attached to the frescoes as votive offerings that mimic the painted garlands behind them. This paper considers how Roman paintings worked in tandem with garlands and other physical objects, and how Pompeiians engaged in mimetic acts. The two-dimensional painted surface depicting “mimetic votives” should be viewed within a three-dimensional space inhabited by people and objects. The mimetic act of hanging a garland was part of ancient lived religion, and, as such, enables us to examine past religious experiences, focusing on the individual and communication with the divine. The relationship between these various visual media would have created unique experiences in the daily lives of ancient Romans that are rarely considered today.

Concentration of Organotin and Booster Biocides in Sediments of Seagrass Area from Sungai Pulai Estuary, South of Johor, Malaysia

Antifouling compounds are widely used in paints applied on ship hulls to prevent attachment of fouling organisms. However, a certain amount of these chemicals could leach from the painted surface, enter seawater, and pose deleterious effects on various marine biotas. The present study aimed to determine the concentration of organotin (OT) compounds and booster biocides in sediments collected from the seagrass area of Sungai Pulai estuary, Malaysia. The sediment samples were collected from three points on the seagrass bed, brought back to the laboratory, extracted using standard extraction procedure, and the analytes were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The results showed that tributyltin (TBT) concentrations in sediments were within the range of 8.1 ± 0.4 to 10.6 ± 0.5 µg/kg, whereas the values of triphenyltin (TPT) were between 17.1 ± 0.9 and 19.4 ± 1.0 µg/kg. The range of concentration of booster biocides, namely diuron, dichlofluanid chlorothalonil, Irgarol 1051, M1, and Sea-Nine 211, were from <0.1 to 22.9 ± 1.1, 48.7 ± 2.4 to 800 ± 40, <0.1 to 6.2 ± 0.3, <0.1 to 1.4 ± 0.1, 44 ± 2.2 to 877 ± 44, and 9.1 ± 0.5 to 170 ± 8.5 µg/kg, respectively. The concentration of organotin was much lower than the previous study conducted in southern Johor. Meanwhile, the increased concentration of booster biocides proves the use of these compounds as antifouling paints in shipping systems nowadays.

Two Rare Early Abbasid Paint-Decorated Ceramic Bowls from el-Khirba/Nes Ziyyona, Israel

This article discusses two near-complete ceramic vessels—a deep, cup-shaped bowl and a shallow bowl/plate—found in recent excavations carried out at the rural site of el-Khirba/Nes Ziyyona in central Israel, in an early Abbasid context dated to the ninth century. The vessels bear unusual painted decorations on their exterior and interior. The decoration of the first bowl consists of alternating pairs of large black and white palm trees and large birds. The second bowl/plate is decorated with eight stylized trees emerging from a central circle, with small circles between them; these motifs were drawn in black over a white-painted surface. These bowls are associated with a local fine ware ceramic group, known as Fine Byzantine (or Fine Islamic) Ware, which originated in the Jerusalem region. However, their decorations reflect stylistic traditions familiar across the Early Islamic Near East and beyond, including from statuary works, illustrated manuscripts, and other ceramics. Altogether, it can be suggested that rural elites in Early Islamic Palestine used luxury ceramics decorated with pan-Islamic patterns as a way of identifying themselves with cosmopolitan, pan-Islamic society.

Tonalism

Tonalism is an often under-appreciated aspect of Australian painting, which developed from the mid-1910s to the 1950s. A technique pioneered by Max Meldrum (1875–1955) it is different to the use of tone developed by artists such as Leonard da Vinci (1452–1519) and Johannes Vermeer (1632–75). Traditionally, European artists worked from dark to light, building up the painted surface to model form and create realistic effects as part of the will to produce illusionistic forms and space on a two-dimensional painted surface. This process is based on closely observed preliminary sketches. In Australia, the technique developed by Meldrum involved the blocking in of tonal impressions with no under-drawing or outlines.

Truitt, Anne (1921–2004)

Anne Truitt is an American artist most closely identified with Minimalism. Truitt’s art consists of wooden boxes, planks, and columnar works industrially fabricated and painted by hand, which were among the first examples of Minimal art. Because of the evocative colors and literary titles of her works, she is often distinguished from her contemporaries, who argued against expressivity in art. Truitt’s principal critical ally was Clement Greenberg. Despite viewing other minimalists’ works with contempt, Greenberg admired Truitt’s formal references to painters Ad Reinhardt and Barnett Newman, and understood her sculptures as three-dimensional articulations of a two-dimensional painted surface. Elsewhere, the language Greenberg used in defence of Truitt made her gender a conspicuous issue, contributing to the feminizing of her practice in ensuing discourse. Truitt had a remarkably long, productive, and diverse studio practice, producing sculpture, drawings, and paintings until her death in 2004.

Neo-Impressionism

Neo-Impressionism (1886–1906) comprised a group of avant-garde painters in France who explored a systematic approach to painting that revived Classical ideals while critiquing Impressionism’s prevailing aesthetic of spontaneity and improvisation. Led by the young, Parisian-born Georges Seurat, a rebellious École des Beaux-Arts-trained painter and anarchist, the Neo-Impressionists first gained attention at the eighth and final Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1886. There, Seurat and his student Paul Signac, accompanied by the older Camille Pissarro, and his son Lucien, staged their bold new work. Its centerpiece was Seurat’s monumental Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–1886), a visual manifesto to Neo-Impressionist precepts. In his review, art critic and activist Félix Fénéon coined the label néo-impressionisme to describe compositions that forcefully advanced Impressionism’s vibrant coloristic experiments. He detailed Seurat’s method of juxtaposing small, regularized touches of adjacent and complementary colors as ‘optical painting." Termed "divisionism," unblended pigments would theoretically "recombine on the retina" of the observer, resulting in a brilliant synthesis of hue and light on the painted surface. The methodical application of dots was termed "pointillism."