December 20, 2000 re: Repair of Benglis Sculpture I received this Lynda Benglis Sculpture from Doug Flanders of Flanders Contemporary Art, Minneapolis. Doug called me in because I had previous experience in the repair of a Benglis Sculpture of this type. It is a sprayed metal piece, copper alloy over screen mesh.

This is a very fragile and brittle method of construction. When applied to a piece the size of this one, the weight of the piece itself is a threat to the structure. Lynda did make most members of the piece as tubes which greatly increase the strength of the piece, unfortunately one "wing" was nearly flat and fairly heavy which put a great deal of stress on it.

Diagnosis

A crack had formed which was visible on the front of the piece as well as the back. The crack was most evident in the center of the piece where the pleats opened and accentuated any movement. As the crack opened it had stretched the mesh inside and made it impossible to close it fully, in spite of clamping it would either be open in the front or the back.
	The crack had probably started at the top of the piece and worked its Upon examination I discovered that the crack had started long ago, possibly even before it left the studio. way across getting slowly worse each time the piece was moved, possibly even as it was hanging. The crack at the bottom edge of the wing seems to be the newest.

The crack is not continuous from top to bottom, the portions at the top and bottom and in the center were the stiffest sections, they are noticeably cracked. The portions in between these cracks were flexible enough not to have developed visible cracks, though they would if flexing were allowed to continue.

Repair

I decided that the best way to repair this piece was to carefully insert a fluxed soft silver solder mixture in the front of the crack, clamp the crack closed and then carefully solder the crack closed.

Following this, I went to the back of the piece and carefully formed a reinforcing member which spanned the crack and braced the wing so it could no longer flex. The construction of this contoured piece required a lot of fitting. This piece follows the complex contour of the piece

I extended it all the way across the back for added stiffness and tied it into the main hanging point of the sculpture which is the strongest point on the piece.

The strut should slow further movement of the unsupported wing and keep the crack from redeveloping and spreading. I repaired the crack at the center, the portions at the ends are hidden from view or were there from the studio. The strut should stiffen the piece so that they will not grow any more. Attempting to solder them would possibly have changed the patina near them and I decided not to risk that, especially since the new reinforcing piece has stopped the flexing.