Materials Discussions
February 23, 2021
2:00PM ET

Street Art and Graffiti

The following four guest speakers will discuss different aspects of street art and graffiti in short presentations followed by a 30-minute roundtable discussion.

The presentations will begin with a brief history of vandalism and street art (Rosa Lowinger), discussion of street art culture and materials employed through the lens of an artist (Douglas Hoekzema - Hoxxoh) followed by a presentation on the science behind paint coatings (Emily MacDonald-Korth), and culminating with a presentation on the conservation of street art and how its ephemeral nature creates a stark contrast with the way the Fine Art world sees their art (Veronica Romero-Gianoli).

Rosa Lowinger is President and Chief Conservator of RLA Conservation of Art + Architecture, a firm with offices in Miami and Los Angeles specializing in outdoor sculpture and integrated architectural artworks.  A graduate of the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU, she is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation, the Association for Preservation Technology, and the American Academy in Rome, where she studied the history of vandalism during her 2008-09 Rome Prize. Rosa has served as guest editor for the Vandalism issue of the University of Pennsylvania's journal Change Over Time and writes regularly for mainstream media about culture, conservation, and historic preservation in her native Cuba. She co-curated Concrete Paradise: Miami Marine Stadium at the Wolfsonian Museum and Promising Paradise: Cuban Allure, American Seduction at the Coral Gables Museum. She is the author of the nonfiction book Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub (Harcourt, 2005). For more information, please see www.rosalowinger.com.

Perfectionist, researcher-artist HOXXOH conceives and uses projection and dripping techniques to give life to fluid painterly shapes and patterns embedded in a philosophical approach. Through repetitions and analyses, the artist has managed to recreate the characteristic harmony of contingency, revealing the aesthetic qualities of controlled chaos.

Douglas Hoekzema is a Miami-based artist whose ever-evolving painting style emphasizes mark-making, color, and mechanized paint application instruments. His use of hand-engineered mechanisms allows each new series to represent not only a new time in his life but also an entirely new technique of painting.

Emily MacDonald-Korth is a professionally trained art conservator, a specialist in the scientific analysis of art and architectural finishes, a conservation educator, and Founder of two companies that innovate at the intersection of art and science. An inventive problem-solver and creative data communicator with an energetic focus on the union of art, science, data, and preservation, she has 20 years as an art world professional. MacDonald-Korth created Longevity Art Preservation LLC, a laboratory for conservation and forensic analysis of art; she also invented and co-patented, Art Preservation Index®, a rating system for fine art and two complementary products, the APIx Database and the APIx Mobile app. In her previous positions, including the Getty Conservation Institute (Los Angeles), MacDonald-Korth pioneered new technologies for the field while contributing to and leading high-profile projects across the United States, China, and Italy. MacDonald-Korth is the recipient of several awards, grants, and fellowships; she is widely published, a prolific public-speaker and educator, and has been featured in numerous media outlets such as the BBC, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, The Art Newspaper, Vice, Miami Herald, Artnet News, and more.

Chief Conservator​ Veronica Romero-Gianoli has worked at ArtCare Conservation since 2004. With a BFA from the University of The Arts, Pennsylvania, Veronica received her conservation certificate and training at Lorenzo d’Medici Institute in Florence, Italy and holds a Professional Associate status in the American Institute for Conservation. Veronica has a special expertise in treating Contemporary, Latin American, and European paintings.  In 2010, she was a participant for The Smithsonian Haiti Cultural Recovery Project to rescue, recover, and help restore Haitian artwork damaged and endangered by the earthquake and its aftermath.  She has given several presentations at meetings for the American Institute for Conservation, International Institute for Conservation and American public institutions on the treatment, care and preservation of painted surfaces.

Materials Discussions are scheduled for one hour with four short presentations by the speakers followed by discussion.

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