Modern Art of Jim Dine Goes Beyond Hearts and Bathrobes – 2

This is part 2 of the biography of Jim Dine.

Jim Dine as Masterful Artist of Many Trades

As an artist, Jim Dine has explored a wide range of media for their expressive capabilities. He moved from happenings to paintings, drawings, printmaking, poetry, and later expanded into sculptures, photography and the production of book series. While he is creatively exploring new art forms, his is not abandoning his prior art mediums either.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Pinocchio, 2008

Jim Dine

Jim Dine as Happenings Artist

When Jim Dine moved to New York city in 1959, he started working with fellow artists Claes Oldenburg, Robert Whitman, Lucas Camaras, and Allan Kaprow to organize theatrical performance art events known as Happenings. And now, 50 years later, his recent show ‘Hot Dreams: 52 Books’ at the Pace Wildenstein gallery in New York was a multi-layered exhibition which juxtaposed poetry, audio, books, collage, drawings, sculpture and digital prints on canvas. Looking at the video below which features the opening of the show, it looks like quite a multi-sensory intriging art happening of sorts to me.

Jim Dine as Draftsman & Poet

Jim Dine has always been a poet and has written and illustrated several books of poetry. However his poetry has not been in the public eye as much as his visual art. Nonetheless, the nature of the poet has shone throughout his visual artistic career. As did his amazing abilities as a draftsman. While his art in these mediums can stand on their own two feet, I feel that more importantly, these two artistic talents have been main ingredients in Jim Dine’s success in other art forms.

Jim Dine as Theater Designer and Sculpturist

Dine has also made a number of three-dimensional works and environments. He has made several heart sculptures which featured household objects on the surfaces. He has also made Pinocchio sculptures, complete with the fox and the cat. Many of his Venuses are placed in public places. There were other animals. For example, there is the ‘Abduction’ featuring a giant monkey holding a lady in a long dress. A totally different but related work would be ‘the Fan’ (1991), which is a farmer’s work bench replete with one of Jim Dine’s large hearts and a cut open pumpkin.

Jim Dine as Print Maker

If I have to choose a single medium for which Dine has earned a strong reputation, I would have to answer print making. Jim Dine made his first prints at the Pratt Graphic Art Center in 1960. Since, Dine has been prolific and has created roughly over 900 prints to date. Tatyana Grosman invited Jim Dine to her legendary print shop, Universal Limited Art Editions. He has worked with various print shops since. Below, I’ve pulled together some of his heart prints, which showcases the various printing techniques of Jim Dine: woodcut printing, intaglio and lithography. Throughout his career, Jim Dine has illustrated many books.