Untitled (From Ten Winter Tools) 1973

In this untitled work, Jim Dine is working with tools, and the kind of feeling you get when you just wanna make a mark. I can imagine Jim Dine in the studio, pushing ink around a plate, then running it through the press. I like the way the spanner has been outlined with care, while its companion is a splodge of black, its form almost collapsing into abstraction. It's a kind of dance between control and chance. It reminds me of the way Jasper Johns painted everyday objects. They're both taking normal things, like flags or tools, and making them into something else through the act of painting. Each mark, each gesture, seems like a little experiment, a way of seeing what the medium can do, and how it can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Artists are always in conversation, playing with ideas across time. Ultimately, this print embodies that spirit of play, of trying things out, and of letting the material lead the way.