Yea, whatever. It may be old school ( this attitude was prevelant 18 years ago and now the so called contemporary alternatives have become cliche) but the fact is there is a reason museums and galleries frame photographs with rag board with or without appropriate mounting, and the artwork touching nothing on the face. To me, and most of the artists I deal with, we view face mounting to plexi that was trendy in the 80s with Cindy Sherman and what not, as not only old fashioned but cheap looking as a Las Vegas trade show. ( maybe people see that as sophisticated, to each his own) .....But, the main reason not to face mount is that if you care about print longevity, I do, it's the worst thing you can do. The adhesive will destroy your print in the long term, but before that happens the print will delaminate from the plexi and/or get scratched making the artwork trash. The only decent form of face mounting is Diasec that uses a difficult to accomplish application of silicone. It is so expensive that almost no one even offers it anymore. That was the process used by the giant prints of German art photographers 15-20 years ago who were doing mural size type c prints that themselves were not stable in the long term. And before that it was an advertising gimmick used for super saturated cibachrome looking displays.
As to framing with glass vs plexi I'm facing that decision for a show of Carbon inkjet prints in April.
There are three kinds of super high clarity options - 1. Museum Plexi, which is out of the question for most of us since it is super expensive , vulnerable to scratching also and as such a delicate investment, especially for large works, small ones potentially a good choice. 2. Museum Glass - which besides having ultra clear opticality also has a uv filter 3. And the best choice by far for glass is Water White glass. It is identical to museum glass at a fraction of the cost without a uv filter.
Since I'm using pure carbon prints and Vivera color pigments I'm not at all interested in a uv filter, even for the ones that might sell. I couldn't afford museum glass anyway even for smallish size prints. I'm drmounting to 8 ply rag board and framing in a shadowbox frame suspended from the glass with no matting needed.
But as mentioned, Water White itself being glass is heavy, even for the 13x19 prints I'm framing. It's also way more expensive than plexi. But what it looks like in exhibition is the same as having absolutely nothing in front of the print, its invisible from any angle. You can't see it. It's incredible.
This is the cost difference for my show for the two possibilities that I will have to choose from. And by the way if you plan on shipping your work,for shows elsewhere as I plan to do, you will have to have at least one set of plexi anyway.
For framing 20 - 13x19 prints:
With Water White glass - $667.00
With standard framing acrylic - $ 186.00
Here is where you can price various sizes of both -
https://www.framedestination.com/framing-supplies/glass-and-acrylic/artglass-ww-ar-uv.htmlJohn
Framing with a matte is old school to me anyway
Here's a good source for economical acrylic face mounts, and they can be ordered with TruLife acrylic
http://impactvisualarts.com/prices/