Paintings by Jacob Dhein
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Artist Statement for Artisans and Tradesmen Series 

Growing up with my grandmother who was a painter and many of my relatives who were tradesmen had an impact on my interests as a painter.  I remember how I studied my grandmother’s paintings and was fascinated with the beautiful colors and textures.  As a child and into later years in life I spent many hours working alongside family, remodeling, building, logging and working with concrete.  These experiences are the inspiration for my paintings.     

Artisans and Tradesmen is a series of oil paintings depicting people working in a traditional hands-on-mode in spite of a modern world run by computers and computer operated machines that mass produce.  This series entered the developmental stage a couple of years ago when I moved near Haight Street in San Francisco.  After numerous times walking down Haight Street I noticed that I looked every time with amazement into a little shoe repair shop.  I was fascinated with the shop that was cluttered with shoes, old boots, high heels, and an old Singer sewing machine.  The same man was always working.  He was a unique looking older man either behind the counter or using the old Singer sewing machine.  Each time I saw the shop, I thought to myself, this would be a compelling painting.   After numerous times peering into the little shoe repair shop I decided to talk with the proprietor about doing a painting of him.  After receiving his permission, I worked with the gentleman and did the painting, Haight Street Shoe Repair.  After the success of the painting I decided to start the series Artisans and Tradesmen.

I am always searching for scenes that catch my eye to develop into paintings.  I found that I am drawn to environments that are busy in nature.  The Artisans and Tradesmen series allows me to create a complex environment onto a two-dimensional surface giving an illusion of space and depth.  I often feel like I am taking a two-dimensional surface and sculpting a three-dimensional world onto it.