(b. 1935)
Jim Dine is most often in association to the Pop Art movement, although his paintings, prints and sculptures exhibit gestural influences of Abstract Expressionism and collage elements of Dadaism. Dine first became a household name in New York in the early 1960s after his series of performances Happenings which he created and produced in collaboration with Claes Oldenberg, Allan Kaprow and Robert Whitman. The series were intended to stand in opposition to the wistful attitudes of Expressionism, which at the time dominated the art world.
Autobiography became a prevalent component to Jim Dine’s practice as he often incorporated personal belongings, such as clothing, shoes, rope and tools, into his paintings and sculpture. He imbued personal significance to his work through recurrent, iconic imagery, using renderings of hearts, palettes and bathrobes as stand-ins for self-portraits. Images of Pinocchio first started appearing in Dine’s prints in 1998. Finding the story of the wooden boy to be relatable to his own life, he saw Pinocchio’s journey and transformation as an empathetic metaphor for art. In addition to his prints, Dine made a series of wooden sculptures of Pinocchio along with a 30ft bronze cast commission for the town of Boras, Sweden.
Jim Dine received his BFA form Ohio University, Athens, in 1957. In 1959, shortly after completing his undergraduate education, he moved to New York to pursue his career as an artist.
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
