Four German Brushes 2 1973

Jim Dine made this print, Four German Brushes 2, on paper. You can see right away that this is someone who loves the process of artmaking! It’s right there on the surface, so to speak. The plate is almost like a ghostly square. Look at the image of the brush. It’s not just a picture, it’s an event. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving, coaxing the image into being with a kind of tender curiosity. The bristles in the head of the brush in particular are beautifully rendered. They almost look like fur! Dine knew that art is a dialogue, an exchange of ideas across time. Think of other artists who've explored everyday objects - Claes Oldenburg comes to mind. But where Oldenburg is big and bold, Dine is intimate and inquisitive. And that, to me, is where the magic lies.