Completely Different, Completely the Same 

I love how a large percentage of Julian's viewers are people who have no relation to art making at all, its like we've learned this other language thats completely useless unless talking to fellow viewers....I imagine us just all standing in a circle, nodding saying stuff like "yes... Belgian Linen...washi kozo of course....ah yes the HVLP varnish system...."

Julian: "Now the process of bridging..." Regulars: *nodding* ... with Belgian linen ...

i love that you dont devote a disproportionate amount of time explaining stuff to us like we've never seen your videos before. like you do minor refreshers here and there but you treat us like a class and you're the teacher confident we all are on the same page and expects us to be able to follow along

Staple: *exists on a painting* Julian: so I took that personally

0:38 "It's not a portrait..." Me looking at those eyes later: You sure?

was honesty terrified the beautiful monologue on abstraction was gonna segue into a squarespace ad

I want a T shirt with a staple on it that says “Existential Frustration”

Does anyone else have to re-watch these two or three times because you keep getting so relaxed that you pass out..?

If Julian ever had an accident and needed staples to close a wound he’s gonna scream internally

" Staples ?......" *Blows on my cigar* "Haven't heard that name in years"

“You can see on my face that my frustration with staples is kind of an existential one.” Sir, I don’t know you well enough to identify an existential staple dilemma at a glance.

I just did a thorough dusting of my Van Gogh “Twilight Venice” poster-print which is in a cheap Michael’s frame. So me and you, Julian. Like brothers.

I love how Julian starts disliking staples even more each time he comes across them😂

One day another conservator is going to start a RU-vid channel and they will swear by staples. It will split the RU-vid Art Conservator Fanbase into two separate factions: fans of tacks and the trash people who are wrong all the time.

Looking at how Julian is moving that big painting confirms me that I am too short to be a conservator.

I love how you honor this painting. A lot of people view abstract art as “less than” hyper realism despite the fact that they take two separate skill sets, with different purposes

Julian: "I despise staples!" Me: *Nervously sweating, looking over at my paintings done on cheap, pre-made stretchers with staples in them.*

When Julian said "use a different skill set" I was completely expecting a SkillShare ad transition.

Julian: Retouching abstraction is profoundly difficult. Also Julian: *absolutely nails it*

Julian: "... it's not a portrait or a landscape, certainly not a still life. In fact it appears to have no narrative image..." Me: ... that's an eye. ... that's a person.

As soon as I saw how big the painting was, I was like: HELL, YEAH! HE'S GONNA USE THE *BIG* VACUUM TABLE!!

Last time I was this early, using rabbit skin glue was still acceptable

I just need a man like Julian in my life - organised, soothing, calming, trying to make the world make sense.

I love sanding! It's such a therapeutic thing to do. Watching it though, that's kind of like watching paint dry 😄

I wanna see Julian try to fix a watercolour painting itll be nice to see the difference methods used there

"Maybe there is no value in _you_ " Look, I don't come to this channel to receive what I can already get from my romantic partners.

Julian I would love to hear about your father, how he came to be a conservator, and your journey of continuing the business

I loove this departure from the usual art pieces. As much as I never hope art gets damaged, I do hope more stuff comes up that's different to the usual. It's so neat to see the differences and similarities in how the art is conserved

In defense of artists, I was taught in art school to use staples to attach my paintings to my stretchers. While studying Museum Studies, I remember reading a quote from an abstract expressionist (I believe it was Motherwell) who was responding to complaints about his artwork deteriorating quickly because of poor craftsmanship. He replied something like, "Let the next generation make their own art." Note: for the life of me, I couldn't find this quote on the internet anywhere. I read this back in graduate school about 30 years ago. I'm sorry, I hope I'm remembering this correctly.

I feel like he secures his children’s homework with fishing wire... NO STAPLES!!! 😂

his calm and measured narration of his highly methodical and technically complicated techniques are like a massage for my weary noodle.

Julian about his existential hatred for staples: I don’t that I will ever get over it. I’m working on it though. Trust me. Us: it’s okay Julian it’s okay we’ll hate them with you

"maybe there's no value in you, maybe the missing part is in you.". .... why you got to hit us so hard on a Monday?

"Sanding is nobody's favorite thing." Everything is somebody's favorite thing.

I love how you can see the exact moment he realizes they're screws 😂

i’d like to see julian create his own painting to show us what doing the opposite of the appropriate does to harm the conservation

When Julian said "that is the job of a conservator, to conserve" bro I really felt that...

even though he's already done the ad break, I still got to the point where he was talking about a different skillset and immediately thought "there's definitely an ad for Skillshare coming up"

"If you go up to an abstract painting and you can't drive from it some value, well maybe there is no value in you and the missing part is somewhere in you." What you said actually made me see abstract art in a way different light and it is such an easy answer to such a hard question, it's like a whole world opened up to me. Thanks a lot!

Monologue about abstraction: *happens* Me, someone who felt like most of my abstract art was invalid: I'M NOT CRYING; YOU'RE CRYING!

Julian, using a bristle brush: swooshswooshswooshswoosh The surface grime: >:(

Julian, NEVER say you are not an artist.... What you do and how you are presenting it to the world is art itself. Seeing how you channel has grown, I believe there are about 1.5 million people who agree with me.

In her senior year of high school, my sister had to make an abstract painting for art class. The painting she made had much lighter blue-grey near the upper left corner, and it sort of makes a gradient, getting darker and darker toward the other corner. Even though most of the painting was gray and there weren't many clean lines (it was all kinda blurry? if that makes sense?) the brush strokes were still clear, and there were little variations in the colors here and there that kept it interesting. (It's hard to describe verbally and from memory, but I'm trying!) When I first saw it, I thought it looked pretty cool. The colors were nice, but that was it. But then she told me what she was trying to capture: lying down in the backseat on a long car ride and seeing the sky out of the corner of your eye. and then all the emotions hit, and they were way stronger than if it was a clear painting of the same scene. the brush strokes and color and form weren't chosen to fit a certain image, but to capture emotions associated with a memory- one we both shared. plus, the more I looked at it, the more things I could find to interpret.

I'm an artist whose mostly symbolist work often includes abstract elements. This was fascinating to watch and Julian's mastery of retouching is breathtaking. Wow. And... I have retired my staple gun from the studio. Never again will it marry canvas and wood. !!!

29:35 Did he spill EXACTLY the amount of tacks he was gonna use? What a magician!

Thought I'd share this here: Back when the world was still kind of normal, I went to a free museum exhibit with my best friend. It was composed of art of all kinds from all eras. It was, if I can explain it that way, a path of artistic discovery. No boundaries. Just art. I was absolutely enjoying myself. There were some truly beautiful art pieces there and some really interesting ones. My friend and I spent a good five minutes trying to find all the elements in a giant painting to decode it. I must say, our legs were pretty tired then, so we were taking a break, but it was fun nonetheless. We set out on a search to find our favorite pieces of art in the exhibition. We had to wait until the end to find them, but they were quite beautiful. For my friend, who's choice I support entirely, it was a monochrome turquoise painting depicting not only the launch of a space shuttle, but a field of artists all painting the launch in their own way. It was very interesting for some reason. We also thought it was kind of cool. For my favorite artwork, it was something entirely different; still a painting, but instead of photorealism, it was complete abstraction. There was a sort of cube in the museum which people would go in. Inside, the light was very dim and there was a scene akin to a bedroom with a sort of mannequin on a bed if I remember correctly. It might have been from another exhibit, but that's not the important part. On the wall hung a painting. It was entirely black, with different textures in different places. The dim light shone just enough on it to catch all the impasto. It was simple. No apparent meaning. But somehow, it grabbed me. My friend felt it too. It was simply mesmerizing. Mysterious, dark and just... beautiful. We went back to our favorite paintings a few times. We took pictures with her big monochrome one. But not of my painting. There was no way to take a picture of it in the semi dark. And even then, I'm not sure it could have quite captured it the way I saw it. I have no idea of its name or artist. I know even less how much it's worth and, truly, I don't care. That painting was something special, unique. It did something to me and to my friend. I hope one day to recapture that feeling again. Well, if you've read this far, you are an amazing person. Thank you for your attention. Have a great day/night! ❤️

Finally, my favourite style of art is being covered! I know I'm in the minority, but I love a work that's all about the colour, motion and texture

"the sheen on the painting from the first layer is WwhuaAAaiEe too shiny"

Me: ahh strips of Belgian linen for the lining Julian: today I’ll be using silk organza strips *shocked pikachu face*

Julian: The same thing all the time would be really boring Me watching all his videos thousands of times: Excuse me what?

Does anyone know the artist's name and the title of the painting? It's absolutely stunning

"If you don't like abstract art, you are worthless" - Julian's professor (I paraphrased a bit)

„Artists are Great at Making Art! They are not great at Building art!“ - Baumgartner Restauration 2021

"April 26th, 2021 Julian tells me that there is no value in me." I wonder where it all went wrong, this was a place where we roast previous conservators. I never thought my dear friend would roast me as well. *cries in NO VALUE*

Am I the only one that has to watch Julian's uploads several times because he ALWAYS puts me to sleep. Not that I'm complaining about that either....so soothing so comforting and completely zen 😌

Ohh... I love this painting! It has so much going on! Made my comment when first saw painting but now must add in - Just because someone can not interpret some abstract paintings, it does not mean that 'they' lack something. Each and every person has individual eyesight. A group of people can all be considered to have 20/20 vision but they do not all have exactly the same vision. Infinitely small differences always exist. What one person's eyes read can, and often does, translate differently from another's. Not being able to translate an artist's works is not a failing on the behalf of the beholder! It is simply a difference. Nothing more, nothing less.

Am i the only that sees a portrait in this painting? Many people writing it is a non-figurative painting, but there clearly is a face, yes, it is abstract, but it is still there.

This channel teaching me how to view art. I came here for the pun, I stayed for the unintentional ASMR and now I am just really grateful for what I can learn.

Julian’s flexing with his SawStop. We get it-your shop is better than ours. 😅

I’ve always had a hard time appreciating abstract art, but hearing Julian talk about it blew my mind!

Only after he said "and move carefully" did I realize walking with a big canvass in front of his face could get dicey if he didn't keep such a darn clean shop.

I honestly feel like Julian speaks like I'd imagine a good father would, just gentle life lessons to help guide you along. Something that was lacking in my life so it's a joy to watch, not only for the love of art but for Julian and his kind words.

I paint abstract art and legit cried at your explanation of the difference between it and narrative art as you retouched. Thank you 💛✨

As a chemist, I'm really curious about the solvents being used..

I had a professor in art school that said Abstract painting was the "most customized" form of painting, because it was different for each viewer and the meaning was unique to each viewer. That's when I started to fall in love with abstractionists. The best ones offer the most diverse experience to the viewer. Great video Julian, really enjoyed the change of pace.

I took art all four years of high school and didn't get as much appreciation or understanding of abstracts as I did from the last ten minutes of Julian explaining it...

I've watched every video multiple times and I'm always geeked up to see a new video in my timeline. Never would have thought art restoration would be so dang satisfying, interesting, and relaxing to watch

One of the first chairs I renovated had over 1,000 staples that needed removing. An unforgettable experience and a reason I love upholstery tacks.

I wonder if people staple Julian's birthday card envelopes/presents closed, just to troll him 😂

If a Julian ever decides to open an Italian restaurant, the should call it “Impasta.”

This whole piece reminded me of my grandpa's work. He was very chaotic when he painted. His canvas would be scrap cloth thrown into a frame he made from wood lying around. He could build a lot of texture up on the canvas as well. Thank you for this video.

Thank you for making a video of a painting with a heavy impasto! I've been curious for a long time about the differences when it comes to conserving a painting with impasto vs one without. It is always a pleasure to sit down and enjoy the piece of art that you create for us, so from the bottom of my heart, (and all the other viewers), thank you.

Idk what this is yet but I’m excited

As an abstract artist, I think yours is one of the best explanations of abstract art I've heard

Loved your/your professor’s commentary on abstract paintings. I feel like the difference between observing a narrative painting and an abstract painting is like the difference between having a completed puzzle and a puzzle you have to complete yourself. In the former, you’re often only looking at it as a whole, only on the surface. You can rearrange a few pieces, maybe add in your own, but for the most part you don’t need to do anything. In the latter you’re forced to handle the pieces, to feel every nook and cranny, and get real familiar with the it all. And how you put the puzzle together might be completely different to how someone else does it. Some people have difficulty putting it together. Some people don’t even want to pick up the pieces

Eyeing that painting in the back with a huge gaping hole at 5:01. Looks like another brawler!!

Im still amazed at how immense this man’s patience is, it’s actually crazy how a person has the tranquility to do this stuff

I love that he actually seems to appreciate abstract art rather than just saying that it's bad

I would love to know your recommendations for how artists should create work that lasts! From the canvas to the varnish and everything in between. ☺️

Ohhhh my goodness I looooved watching you do this piece!!! I love abstract art soooo much, and I feel like it's very seldom appreciated among the general public to the level it SHOULD be, so it's so refreshing to see someone who regularly deals with art of all styles and walks of life talk about the ways in which this piece is made what it is. Watching you repair the impasto is just gorgeous. The care and skill that you have in mimicking the fluidity and motion poured into the piece is lovely and absolutely heart-warming as well. It's also SO cool to see how you have to apply your skillset differently to something so different from the typical, classical pieces we see you restore. 💜

I was wondering if Julian would ever do an abstract work. And how he would deal with heavy impasto and expressionist brushwork. His conservation of this piece is flawless and the results are beautiful.

Julian, I am forever in awe of the sheer number and variety of skills and disciplines you apply in your work - the chemistry of solvents, the woodworking of frames, the art of color matching paint and matching brushwork and sculpting impasto, the engineering of designing and building your custom hot table and that table with x-, y-, and z-axis vices...just to name a few. (Not to mention the skills behind writing, filming, narrating, and editing these videos.) The saying goes, “jack of all trades, master of none,” but you’re a master of them all. Or at *least* a journeyman. :)

I am an abstract artist. It brought tears to my eyes hearing your calm voice describe what we try to accomplish stated so eloquently. It is actually very difficult to paint this way and until I trusted myself to try, I didn't realize it. Thank you so much for including this painting.

Can we take a moment too appreciate this man's skill. Retouching this painting when it's upside down. 😃

merch with "i have an existential frustration with staples" on the front and "i'm working on it though" on the back?

I was just putting my phone on charge to go to sleep and this notification came up. Guess I don’t need to sleep yet after all

We've seen muckier paintings, but in terms of grime accumulated per year of existence, this has to be a winner. So satisfying to watch the cleaning!

5:03 OH MY! It's the "Italian Job" in the background! I didn't expect this cameo!

Julian throwing shade at the staples is doing more for my mental health than my therapist

This painting gives me a remarkable sense of unease. I love it.

Julian is actually a beautiful specimen. What a well-groomed human being.

Your analogy of an abstract painting very much applies to how someone sees their own life as no two are the same. The painting turned out beautiful and vibrant and may I say, ' Good job, Julian.' 😊

I was taking a bite of my oatmeal when he brushed all the dirt into the camera and I almost spit it all out on instinct

After watching my first Baumgartner video years ago - "I could do that." After watching the second - "Maybe I still need to learn a few things." After watching the third - "I'll never figure this out!"

My uncle is an art teacher, and was MY art teacher, so he always pushed me harder when it comes to painting and I was (and I am) ok with it, but every time he make me do abstract, I hated him. It seems so easy but to my figurative brain it's so hard to comprehend...

Im so happy to see modern art on this channel!!!

Boy that cleaning always makes such a huge difference. It's so satisfying to see the painting as the artist intended!

I LOVED this. One of the only paintings I've done that im emotionally attached to was an abstract. You always assume no one appreciates them but yourself. It was nice to see this painting treated with such kindness and respect. Obviously loved by someone enough to send it to you. This episode brought my joy. Thanks for all that you do. Once again beautifully executed.☺

Julian's comment on the nature of abstraction and the viewer's relationship to and responsibility for their experience of it - the relational nature of the viewing of abstract art - is one of the most concise and accessible critiques of the subject I have ever heard.

I’ve been watching your Chanel for at least two years now and for the first time today I thought how wonderful it must be to see art in a way that you can really think about the art and the artists intention, especially in a space where you can have it all to your self. My experience with art exhibitions is lots of crowds and not much space to think and feel.