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Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:44:59 -0700

A Note on Bamboo (290) Paper

This natural art paper with its premium inkjet coating guarantees Fine Art prints with a 3-dimensional image depth and is particularly suitable for warm-toned color and monochrome prints. Its fine soft haptic also lends a tangible fourth dimension to fine art prints.

Natural White, 90% Bamboo Fibres and 10% Cotton, Smooth Surface

Bamboo 290 – made from 90% bamboo fibres and 10% cotton – combines spiritual photography with environmental friendliness. This natural warm-toned and OBA free genuine art paper offers maximum aging resistance. It guarantees an extremely large colour gamut and a high colour density.

Applications and Characteristics

Bamboo 290, with its fine, soft surface feel lends itself particularly well to warm-toned colour and monochrome prints of fine art photography and art reproduction. Its premium Inkjet coating also offers a very high level of water resistance.

Physical Characteristics
Unity Valuation Test Norm / Notes
Test Conditions 23�C / 50% R.H. CSS31
Grammage g/m2 280 EN ISO 536
Thickness mm 0,50 EN 20534
Whiteness % 83,0 ISO 11475
Opacity % 99,0 ISO 2471
Media Colour natural white not bleached
pH-Value 8,5 DIN 53124
Cobb g/m2 84,0 EN 20535
Ink limit % 235
Water resistance very high
Special features -

Conditions of use and storage

Use and store ideally at a relative humidity of 35 to 65% and a temperature of 10 to 30� C (50� – 86�F.) All recommendations and product indications are for your guidance, and are subject to test criteria, which remain subject to change without prior notice. The consistency of results is not guaranteed. Use care in handling printed material, surface susceptible to abrasion. Store papers in archive quality envelopes, folders, and boxes. Use only archive grade tapes and glues for mounting & framing.

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Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:50:59 -0700

Frederick Evans, the celebrated bookseller turned photographer (and noted perfectionist) insisted upon the platinum print when creating and printing his now famous images of interiors, French and English cathedrals; his close friend George Bernard Shaw was another favourite subject, who in a 1903 letter to his friend evaluated platinum as being "on the extreme margin of photographic subtlety." Evans would later give up photography and printing entirely with the outbreak of World War I and the end of the platinum market.
It has been suggested that once the modern day collector of photography reaches a stage in his/her collecting at which the first platinum print is introduced to a collection, no other technique of photograph and print will ever suffice again.
The grandchild of the Silver Gelatine print, the platinum print represents the highest quality in terms of its crispness and ability to capture detail and suggest light; more costly and somewhat more difficult a process to perfect, the final product allows for a range of tone that makes the trouble and expense of a print worthwhile to photographer and curator alike. Even poorly lit subjects and architecture shot in twilight have been known to survive the transfer to print so faithfully that despite the similarity in name to the silver gelatine print, the platinum print has no equal. Where silver printing requires an emulsion to suspend the image over the paper and in the early days of photography was carried out with the albumen of chicken eggs, later a synthetic vehicle that meant a glossy finish to the final product, the platinum process impregnates the image in the form of tiny particles of the precious metal onto the top layers of the paper, resulting in an entirely matte finish to the image.
The process of printing images onto paper engaging platinum was patented in 1837 and was used widely until the outbreak of the First World War when supplies of the metal were abruptly cut off as a result of ninety percent of the world’s supply being in Russia. The process enjoyed a brief revival between world wars, but never quite regained the popularity that it enjoyed at the turn of the century, due in part to the escalating prices of platinum.
The platinum print is so faithful to the image that it borders on three dimensional. Platinum has an ability to capture true white, utter black and every shade of grey in between as well as many hues of red and brown not possible with any other medium.
For the collector, platinum photography is an attractive investment because the process represents the most stable and long-lasting means of printing and reproduction known to man. Platinum and its cousin palladium are more stable than silver (silver prints will begin to change considerably due to oxidisation in just a year or two and noticeably and irrevocably within five) and even gold. Contemporary studies suggest that a platinum print might be able to outlast the paper that it is printed on by centuries.
� 2008 Antonio Arch

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Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:15:42 -0800

It's been a busy autumn here at Arch & Company and I want to share not only my news but some of the excitement that is currently unfolding in the Art world and contemporary Art markets...

My Article Art at Work, was just published in the magazine of The Law Office Management Association; the gist of it is that even in uncertain economic times, the greatest contributor to corporate culture continues to be culture itself and business continues to support Art and the humanities, in some cases, more ardently and fervently than ever.

My favourite example is the Art Gallery of Ontario, which opened to worldwide accolades last week and is already being called a masterpiece of architecture on the part of Canadian Architect Frank Gehry, who redesigned and transformed the museum with $300 million of largely private money. It includes Sir Ken Thompson's bequeathed collection housed and displayed in a manner that will inspire awe!

If you find yourself in Toronto with nothing to do on a Friday evening this winter, I hope that you will join me for a tour and behind-the-scenes look at the archaeological dig that is ongoing In the basement and foundation of the AGO. You will be astounded, as I was, to find what was hidden down there beginning in the winter of 1827-8, and even if I do say so myself, the thirty-minute talk helps us all to see Toronto's oldest surviving residence in a whole new way.

Looking ahead, our winter in Cayman is looking bright. Arch & Company became a corporate patron of The National Gallery of the Cayman Islands for 2009, and I hope that you will join me in supporting such a great institution as they support a vibrant, healthy and growing visual art market.

Lastly, please accept our best wishes for a safe and restful holiday and a prosperous 2009.

S. Antonio Arch
& Grace Hussein-Arch

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Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:33:03 -0800

Okay. So I'm a tad bit overexcited about this weekend's AGO opening. Can you tell?

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Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:47:06 -0800

The Use and Misuse of the "A" Word
in the Aftermath of the Bomb at the ROM Affair

Dear Friends,

I had hoped to christen this blog with something light and easy to read; I had been working on an essay on the giclee technique and how it might weather the next fifty years, as well as book review of a Mark Rothko biography that I had been reading, but then this terrible thing happened to my friends and I.
Imagine my shock at getting to the ROM this past Wednesday night to find the block surrounded by police cars, spot lights, yellow tape and what looked like some sort of paramilitary group telling people to go away. Bloor Street Entertains, an event that I have come to enjoy over the years, not only for being a great party, but an incredible fundraiser for HIV/AIDS research, had been cancelled because of an alleged bomb threat and upon hearing this I must have gone into shock because the next thing I remembered was at a nearby hotel. The topic that entire night naturally staying around the theme of "Who would do such a thing?"....someone who didn't want CANFAR to break even? Someone who had unfinished business with the Museum itself? A terrorist cell? I even heard some theories that bordered between absurd and obscene, from a rival AIDS Service Organization to a rival museum. I figured it was best to retire at this point and let the police do their work.

With Thursday came the news that not only had the perpetrator made the package appear to contain a real live bomb, but had also posted footage on Youtube of the package being dropped off. It was hard enough to imagine that someone would go to the trouble of constructing and planting a bomb-like device, but posting the dropoff online? At least now we knew that we were dealing with less of a terrorist and more of a sick, demented mind. I kept asking, "Who would do such a thing?"

When I first heard that there was a fine art connection in explaining the whole horrible scenario, my first thought was that the drunk guy at the Hazelton had been right. It's been a long week, and once you've empathised with an event like 9-11, you realise that anything, even the unthinkable, is possible. Even that wasn't preparation though, for when I heard the news that the ROM evacuation and BSE being cancelled was a hoak disguised and explained as some sort of temporary art installation at the ROM with a corresponding online video. Call me judgemental, but that sounds to me like a multimedia excrement.

I wish I could laugh at the hilarity of this kid thinking that he would get course credit for some video course at OCAD. I'm perfectly able to accept video as an artform; I grew up with MTV, which did much to legitimise a medium that had been developed for television and which many actors refused to work with and appear in during its infancy. It would be some years and colour before a handful of former movie stars began to tentatively court the new medium, one of the first being the actress Stefanie Powers, whose body of film work had left her lacking challenging roles. "Television will be my saviour," she is known to have quoted and went on to play Holly Golightly in the short-lived television series based on Breakfast at Tiffany's. But I digress (which I suppose I don't really have to seeing as how this is my blog and my rave, but will).

I've now become fascinated by the Bomb at the ROM case in just a few days, not only because of my connection to the event and animosity for the perpetrator, but particularly because he is using "But it was art with a capital A" as his defence. Friends at his bail hearing interviewed by the National Post were there to support their friend in what they referred to as a witch hunt, and one Daniel Epstein was quoted in that paper as excusing this whole mess by entitling it Art. "It's art because it makes us think," and I wish I wasn't so shocked and disgusted that I could think, much less laugh while reading this.

I've got nothing against OCAD, and in light of this mess I'm going to forgive them for not admitting me in the early 90's; I also represent an OCAD graduate, but she graduated in 1981 when it was OCA and there was no High-Art-Video-to-Youtube program in its curriculum, so she can't offer much insight into what goes on there nowadays. She's also a competent painter. I went back to Wednesday night to recap everything, reread all the press all the way to the weekend and "this is art" to make sure that I was quite sure about what I was reacting to and came back to wondering what sort of people would do such a thing. And get marked for it.

Did you know that if you're even heard saying the word "bomb" in an airport anywhere, that chances are you'll be missing your flight? That's right. It's hard to board a flight and browse duty free after you've been answering questions with your lips to the floor, a gun aimed at your head and most likely someone's foot in the small of your back. And if I went up to a teller at my bank an

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Sat, 15 Oct 2005 16:14:18 -0700

Le Grand Circuit Foundation is a not-for-profit federally-registered charity and transnational organization whose mission is to promote innovative fundraising events that create new sources of revenue helping both local and global groups persevere in the fight against HIV/AIDS until there is an effective prevention and cure for this disease for all people worldwide.

For more information:

http://www.legrandcircuit.org

I'm a proud volunteer at LGC!

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Thu, 06 Jan 2005 18:51:12 -0800

Committed to drying out in 2005