Jim Dine: Three Ships

Across drawing, painting and sculpture, Jim Dine creates and recreates his self-portrait

This book accompanies the recent Galerie Templon exhibition of the work of American artist Jim Dine (born 1935), which explores the autobiographical excavation at the heart of his work today. Here the focus lies on three self-reflective series from the past three years, each in a different medium. Drawing the Minutes and Me employ pencils, paper and oil on canvas to create a shifting typography of the artist. The titular work of the exhibition, Three Ships, is a set of monumental bronze sculptures studded with branches, ropes and dozens of tools: one of his most beloved motifs. With 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 transformative versatility, which sweeps across seven decades and shows no sign of abating.