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April 05, 2006
Do as Dine does
That’s Jim Dine. As previously mentioned in these diaries, Jim Dine believes if you can do something once you can do it again – better.
Indeed I too believe this, and I feel it is a true test of integrity. That is: it serves to prove things aren’t just luck, or happy accident.
Jim Dine takes this to extremes and actually rubs out good drawings to do better ones on top. I am usually too terrified to do that [fear of finding out I can’t do it better] but I have been known to rub out drawings that I feel don’t work and work over them. This has two advantages, it saves paper [and therefore the planet] and it gives a sense of history to the drawing as bits of the previous drawing show through in a palimpsesty kind of way.
The painting featured in the last two posts seemed to be going along familiar lines and I want to push things a bit further. I sat and looked at the picture for a couple of days, then I wandered round, hitting the drum every now and then, for another couple of days. I wanted to paint over the image and generally get messy with it, but didn’t want to spoil what I’d already got.
Finally I realised: if I’ve done it once I can do it again – better. So I’ve done it again:
Whether it’s better or not we’ll have to wait and see. But I’ve found a degree of freedom now. Suddenly this picture doesn’t matter so much, I can do what I want now without fear of losing anything.
Posted by john at April 5, 2006 03:30 PM