Jim Dine

Jim Dine, Madness and Blue, 2019

Three-colour woodcut with hand-painting in gouache on Korean paper
Paper 200.0 x 131.0 cm / Image 183.0 x 116.0 cm
Edition of 6
Photo taken by Maxwell Anderson

Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

Bathrobes – along with tools and hearts – are the signature motifs of American multidisciplinary artist Jim Dine. Now in his 80s, Dine has been referencing these objects for some sixty years but, rather than experience repetition in his work, he’s seen it evolve as he’s matured: “I am now going into my 85th year…I’ve been making [bath robes] since 1964. But they’re quite different, like I am.”
 Dine frequently uses power tools to grind, scrape and carve the woodblocks he uses to create his prints. His most recent works – a series of hand-painted prints made over the last 12 months - feature woodcuts made by Dine using a chainsaw and motorised chisel. Creating them brought him particular pleasure: “I haven’t carved like this in a long, long time, this fully.”
 The motifs are autobiographical in nature: the bathrobes began as a stand-in for the artist (Dine calls them ‘autobiography through objects’) and the tools – brushes, hammers, saws and pliers – are both the tools of his trade and a reference to his grandfather’s hardware store, where he played as a child.
 A prolific artist, alongside his paintings, sculpture and photography, Dine’s made over a thousand prints in his lifetime. He confirms: “I am not done yet.”
 
For more information cristearoberts.com

Hedge, issue 58, pp54-59, August 2020