NGV International | 8 July – 15 October 2017 | Free entry
Australia’s first exhibition devoted to the prints of acclaimed American artist Jim Dine will open on 8 July at NGV International. Jim Dine: A Life in Print will feature 100 prints spanning 45 years of Dine’s work, selected from a landmark gift of 249 artworks donated by the artist to the National Gallery of Victoria in 2016. The works were presented to the NGV as part of a global program of gifting which also placed artworks in the collections of the British Museum and the Boston Fine Arts Museum.
Known for his highly original printmaking style and recognisable visual vocabulary, Dine emerged as an artist in 1960s New York alongside Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and continues to work and exhibit internationally.
‘The NGV is pleased to showcase for the first time the only significant collection of Jim Dine artworks in the southern hemisphere,’ said Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV. ‘Jim Dine: A Life in Print will offer a rare opportunity to explore the works of this innovative contemporary artist in depth, and across the decades.’
Dine’s expressive etchings, lithographs and woodcuts often depict subjects which he has returned to repeatedly since the 1960s, such as tools, bathrobes, hearts, skulls, Pinocchio and the Venus de Milo. These familiar objects and symbols are brought to life, often on a monumental scale, through Dine’s unconventional printmaking practice, which incorporates grinding the printing plate with power tools, creating texture and detail by manually distressing the paper, and hand-colouring individual prints so that no two works are exactly the same.
A unique figure in the 1960s New York art scene, Dine pushed boundaries in the print medium, whilst also practising as a painter, sculptor, photographer and poet. Although he has been associated with Pop Art, Dine is not aligned with any art movement, and his work is unlike Pop Art in its expressiveness, its unique hand-made quality and its autobiographical nature.
Key artworks in the exhibition include depictions of bathrobes such as Two Florida bathrobes 1986 and The Kindergarten robes 1983, both examples of Dine’s serial variation of a single motif which he returned to over a 30-year period. Love and grief 1992 showcases Dine’s imaginative combination of image and text and his use of symbols imbued with personal meaning.
This exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated publication featuring an insightful essay and a recent interview with the artist.
Jim Dine: A Life in Print is on display at NGV International from 8 July – 15 October 2017. Entry is free.
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