Marking the exhibition of Jim Dine’s eight new large-format paintings at Richard Gray Gallery, the artist participates in a special interview discussing his upbringing, the surface quality of his works and what is in store for the future. "My family had a hardware store, and I worked there for ten years, until I was 19. I was brought up by workmen, and I was brought up to appreciate a day’s work. And that’s really all I do. I work every day. The physical act of my painting is a quest to find the answer."

Jim Dine: The Black Paintings are a series of eight large-format works first conceived in 2015 at Jim Dine’s studio in Walla Walla, Washington. Built from a thick impasto of acrylic paint, sand and charcoal, Dine carefully worked each canvas with an electric sander to achieve distinct and textured surfaces. A dominant configuration of related black shapes anchors the composition of each painting.

The group of eight canvases makes its US debut at Richard Gray Gallery, having been shown in 2017 at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Championed by Accademia lecturer and architect Francesco Moschini, the paintings "tell us things that cannot be guessed at from even the most perfect of photographs…there is an order to the action and an astutely calibrated tension between the darker areas and those that are lighter in color.”

Jim Dine: The Black Paintings is the artist’s fourteenth solo exhibition with Richard Gray Gallery, and is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with an introductory text by the artist. It runs at Richard Gray Gallery, New York from October 25, 2018 - January 11, 2019.

Video © Richard Gray Gallery. A Frieze Studios Production. Images © Jim Dine.