Life of Colors

Description

Artist Notes

This work portrays my parents. After my mother’s murder, their life became a colorful yet difficult journey a path they walked together despite everything. One day, I took up the brush and began painting them. My mother was dressed in black, the color of grief and mourning after my father’s death. The only image that came to me at that moment was of her bidding him a final farewell, one hand raised.

Preservation Notes

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION This is a physical painting, not a digital-native work. It is executed in acrylic with pigments on a linen composite canvas support and finished with a polymer sealant, forming a cohesive polymer-based acrylic surface over composite linen. Recorded dimensions are 30 x 43 cm. The composition is built from two figures, one constructed from geometric planes (triangles, rectangles, arcs) and one rendered as a black silhouette, with saturated colour passages set against teal and blue tonalities. The archivist has recorded the piece as being in impeccable condition; no further condition claim is made here, as this record contains no report of a physical examination. CONSERVATION REQUIREMENTS A linen composite canvas with acrylic and polymer sealant is a stable structure. Keep the work in stable relative humidity and a stable temperature, and avoid direct sunlight. Dust with a soft dry brush only; do not use solvents on the sealed acrylic surface. Support the stretcher when handling and lift from the stretcher members rather than the canvas face. Preservation framing, fully encased, is appropriate: the archivist notes the current use of Conservation Clear glass, which offers 99% UV protection but lacks an anti-reflective coating and is therefore prone to glare. UV-filtering glazing is recommended in all cases; an anti-reflective conservation glazing would reduce the glare noted above without loss of UV protection. Lighting should be maximised in a northern light setting, with installation lighting positioned to minimise direct glare. The work should be reframed and inspected for management upkeep every five years, with standard preservation care applied on the same five-year cycle. The saturated reds, yellows, and oranges are the passages most at risk of fading and should be monitored at each inspection. DIGITAL RECORD The original capture was scanned in Sweden as a TIFF master in high, medium, and low resolution variants. The medium and low resolution variants are held outside this archive. CURRENT ASSET: TIFF master, 4665 x 6600 pixels, 88.1 MB. Filename LifeofColors-Alijila-FullRes.tif. Uploaded 2026-09-09. This record now holds the full-resolution TIFF master, uploaded without conversion. It replaces the previous derivative (JPEG, 2827 x 4000 pixels, 3.8 MB), which held only about a third of the linear resolution of the master. Effective scan resolution: approximately 390 to 395 DPI measured against the recorded physical dimensions, comfortably above the 300 DPI archival standard. The work can therefore be reproduced at 1:1 with resolution to spare. Maximum reproduction size at 300 DPI: 15.6 x 22.0 inches. At 200 DPI, suitable for viewing at distance, it will carry 23.3 x 33.0 inches. Status: this record meets archival standard. No rescan required.

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