The Conservation Center recently treated a mixed-media painting by Miami-based artist John La Huis, whose practice embraces layered surfaces, diverse materials, and a highly textural approach to mark-making. La Huis often combines oil paint with materials such as resin, fabric, paper, and industrial media, building and reworking his compositions until gestures, textures, and fragments of imagery settle into place.
Before conservation.
La Huis’s material choices are central to the energy and presence of his paintings. The interplay between dense passages and open, scraped, or abraded surfaces reveals both construction and revision, allowing traces of the creative process to remain visible. As contemporary artists continue to experiment with layered media and unconventional combinations, conservation treatments increasingly involve understanding and supporting these complex surfaces rather than simplifying or altering them.
This painting arrived at the lab framed and was examined within its frame to protect the textured surface. It is executed on a medium-weight canvas stretched over a foam-core auxiliary support with a wood strainer, with several inscriptions present on the reverse. The paint layer exhibited raised cracks, primarily along the lower third and upper left quadrant, along with areas of separation between layers. These types of conditions can develop naturally in richly built, multi-layered works as materials age and interact over time. A light layer of surface dirt was also present, and dust had accumulated on the verso.
Details of the painting before treatment.
Senior paintings conservator Michael Young treated the painting, focusing on stabilization and gentle cleaning, with careful attention paid to preserving the character of the surface. After photographic documentation, areas of lifting media were locally consolidated with reversible adhesives. Small losses were filled and textured to blend with surrounding passages and select cracks that could not be safely reduced were discreetly filled and inpainted. Stable cracking that did not pose a risk was left visible as part of the artist’s working process. The surface was cleaned using controlled methods appropriate for sensitive mixed media, and the verso was dusted with a soft brush and vacuum.
Under raking light during treatment.
During treatment.
During treatment.
This carefully tailored approach stabilized the painting while preserving the layered texture and surface movement central to La Huis’s work. By reinforcing vulnerable areas and maintaining the artist’s intentional materiality, the treatment supports both the physical artwork and the experience of viewing it. For collector Tremaine Atkinson, the piece holds special meaning: “The painting you treated along with another of John's were the first paintings my wife and I selected together as a couple, so they have strong sentimental value, as well as holding up as among favorites in our collection.”
After treatment.
After treatment.
Before treatment.
After treatment.
After treatment.
