Three Ships

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This book explores the uncompromising processes of autobiographical excavation at the heart of Jim Dine’s art today. Here his focus lies on three self-reflective series from the past three years, each in a different medium. In the self-portraits of “Drawing the Minutes” Dine less draws with pencil on paper than carves into it, feverishly erasing and redrawing to create a shifting typography of self and a study on the effects of time. The densely painted self-portraits of “Me” comprising oils mixed with sawdust and sand deepen Dine’s acts of looking out and in, each layer of pigment a layer of self-knowledge. Finally we witness the monumental bronze sculptures of “Three Ships” whose title references the ships that carried the relics of the Three Wise Men on their final journey. Five years in the making, Dine’s ships are dynamic masses studded with branches, ropes and dozens of tools—one of his most beloved motifs, born from childhood hours of intense observation spent in his grandfather’s hardware store. Accompanied by short personal texts by the artist and photos documenting him at work at the Kunstgiesserei St. Gallen foundry, Three Ships is a testament to Dine’s vitality and transformative versatility—which sweep across six decades and show no sign of abating.