Best known for his monumental images of bathrobes, tools and hearts that became icons of Pop art during the 1960s and 70s, Jim Dine remains one of the most inventive and prolific printmakers of our time. His prints currently number some 1,000 items, and at age 75, he continues to produce new works with remarkable zest and boundless energy. Dine’s prints are rooted in the spontaneous, gestural aesthetic of American Abstract Expressionism. Intensely physical in execution, they celebrate the artist’s touch. He supplements his energetic, full-body strokes not only by hand coloring but also by collaging with nontraditional media. He may also subtract, scratching or even gouging his surfaces, sometimes with power tools. The results show his great joy in working with the thick paper and rich inks and colors, or in the artist’s words, his love for “leaving my tracks.”
Jim Dine Printmaker: Leaving My Tracks
explores Dine’s etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and illustrated books from the last 50 years, drawing from the prints at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where the artist has created an archive of his life’s work. Some 160 lush full-color images, along with text based on conversations between the artist and MFA curator Clifford S. Ackley, offer an intimate look into Dine’s deeply personal approach to his favorite subject matter.