Jim Dine: Days of Joy, Printing
In February 2020, just before the world began to lock down, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome hosted a major career retrospective devoted to Jim Dine (b. 1935). The exhibition incorporated all the major aspects of his work, both historical and contemporary and as its centrepiece included an extensive display of his graphic works. For Dine, printmaking has always been a vital and intrinsic part of his practice, and never more so than over the last twelve months where he has immersed himself in the print studio.
Working with master printers Gabi Pechmann and Christoph Chavanne at their studio in Austria, Dine created this monumental series of new woodcuts. As is so often the case with his printmaking, he coaxed the images from the large blocks using a variety of unconventional tools - motorised chisels, drills and chainsaws – all employed to create densely layered, complex surfaces which burst with energy and emotion.
For these new works, he returned to his most iconic of images for which he has become synonymous – the heart. The motif has long-served Dine as a loose formal device for an infinite range of marks and has become an enduring vehicle for his creative experimentation and expression. An endless source of inspiration, he considers the heart to be one element of his pictorial vocabulary, each subject a launch pad for his explorations of line and colour. Dine says; “Every time I sit down with the intention of making a heart – painting, prints, sculpture – it’s brand new for me. It’s a brand new experience. I happen to be using a familiar sign, but that’s the only repetition – setting down a matrix that I can work within.”
Each of these new works is a renewed investigation into the possibilities of printmaking; Dine has never compromised or been afraid to push boundaries and continues to do so in this new suite of woodcuts.
These six works will be included in the forthcoming new volume of the artist’s print catalogue raisonné, compiled by Tobias Burg and published by Steidl.
Please view the works below and contact sales@cristearoberts.com if you would like to receive prices or require any further information. As the gallery is currently closed to the public, we are not able to answer telephone enquiries for this edition.
Jim Dine
Jim Dine
All images taken by Christoph Chavanne, Steindruck Studio, Apetlon, Austria
