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Original exhibition poster printed on the occasion of Jim Dine’s 1971 exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern, featuring Saw, 1971. Against a sea of electric blue, Dine has written “saw” in looped cursive and sketched a saw running down the right edge. Sprays of white about the handle and tip of the blade evoke the back and forth motion of cutting. To the left, a lone screw swims in the cerulean sea. Topping off this show stopping vintage poster is the custom typeface: whimsical block letters with graphic horizontal gradients. Look closely – the artist’s name is filled with miniature waves.
The hand tool is undoubtedly Jim Dine’s most iconic motif. Meticulously catalogued in rows like scientific specimens or sketched individually, hammers, awls, brushes, saws and screwdrivers assume a visceral symbolism. Curvilinear handles evoke the contours of limbs or bones, and even metal points and blades seem organic under Dine’s thoughtful hand.
Text reads Jim Dine, Kunsthalle Bern.
