Use acrylic or not for Aluminum wall mounts

[charles.woodrich]

I have no experience in this area so I hope you can chime in and give me some direction.  I was just put in the position of determining all aspects of the wall art at our condo association. We are a destination vacation spot for wildlife and as such most of the images will be wildlife.   I've determined that aluminum prints are the best medium for the display. This is not archival stuff.  My question is, in your opinion, does the addition of an acrylic layer add or detract from the viewing quality?   

[dgberg]

Would never put anything over dye sub metal (Chromaluxe)
It is as tough as anything out there. In direct sunlight it will fade like anything else though.
In the overall scheme of things as far as wall art goes it is relatively inexpensive.
The larger ones can get a little pricy, yes.
Would channel your worries somewhere else. One gets damaged just reprint it.
Damage with these is usually terminal as most times it happens when hanging. Someone drops one when hanging and dents the corners.
The metals hanging in my studio are 4 years old and still look as good as they were when new.

Want to make it look real nice add acrylic to the back making a metal standout on acrylic. Another option put a nice small frame around it.
The two top photos show metal prints attached together with frosted acrylic and 3/16" gatorboard in the middle.

[stockjock]

I haven't actually seen the finished product but I imagine the metal prints with float frames that are available from Aspen Creek and other printing shops probably look fabulous and are relatively affordable.  The addition of the frame adds some protection for the edges and provides a very finished look.

https://www.aspencreekphoto.com/metal

[Wayne Fox]

I have no experience in this area so I hope you can chime in and give me some direction.  I was just put in the position of determining all aspects of the wall art at our condo association. We are a destination vacation spot for wildlife and as such most of the images will be wildlife.   I've determined that aluminum prints are the best medium for the display. This is not archival stuff.  My question is, in your opinion, does the addition of an acrylic layer add or detract from the viewing quality?

Detracts, does not add any value, the acrylic is harder to maintain the the aluminum print (it scratches, the aluminum is tough to scratch).  I can't seen any useful purpose of putting acrylic over an aluminum print.

Now a high quality facemounted print on anti reflective TruLife acrylic to me offers a better product, but it's considerably more expensive, and the comment that it's not archival tells me we're talking about decorating rather than archival art.

[charles.woodrich]

Very helpful.  Thank Guys!

[DougDolde]

Check out these guys in San Diego. I've had them make several pieces for me.
They are reasonable and fast.  As well as acrylic face mounts, they offer direct print to acrylic which is cheaper and hard to tell from a face mount

https://impactvisualarts.com/prices/