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I have been trying my hand at shooting pictures at shows as of late, using my trusty iPhone 4, and have come up with a couple of gems. Enjoy.

I first time I saw a Jim Dine drawing was at the Milwaukee Art Museum in the early 1990’s, and I was floored by the his technique and seemingly natural skill. There were only a few of his pieces on display, but they really had a profound effect on the way I thought about art, and the way that I approached it from then on. In the years since then, I have grown to appreciate and admire all of his works, as he has produced so many fantastic pieces of art, using a multitude of different ideas and media to showcase his thoughts and talents.

While you may know him as “the guy that draws the hearts”, Jim Dine (b.1935) was actually a prominent figure in the “Pop Art” movement in the 1960’s, along with Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and the Neo-Dada movement as well.

Over the years, he has changed his style and his tools numerous times, gathering inspiration and new techniques along the way. He has created the now-famous series of heart paintings, as well as self-portraitures, sculptures, paintings and drawings formed from a life-long obsession with tools. Other famous works include his many takes on the Venus De Milo, using clay, charcoal, bronze, and other media, along with his fascination with the character of Pinocchio, as he explains:

“Thanks to Carlo Collodi, the real creator of Pinocchio, I have for many years been able to live thru the wooden boy. His ability to hold the metaphor in limitless ways has made my drawings, paintings and sculpture of him richer by far. His poor burned feet, his misguided judgment, his vanity about his large nose, his temporary donkey ears all add up to the real sum of his parts. In the end it is his great heart that holds me. I have carried him on my back like landscape since I was six years old. Sixty-four years is a long time to get to know someone, yet his depth and secrets are endless.” (from his book Pinocchio)

He uses different ideas and media to create abstraction in his work, yet when viewed as a whole in a collection, it creates an illusion of uniformity and an almost structured chaos. The melding of colors can be expressive and subtle at the same time, whether in a painting or sculpture, while the black-and-white drawings can seem so simple and still jump right off the page. The line work in the drawings he has produced is fantastic, not overtly focused but precisely where they should be, and fitting perfectly within each piece. Truly an inspiration to many artists, after 50 years and over 3500 pieces, Jim Dine continues to enthrall and innovate the art world.

“I’ve never had an easy relationship with critics. I hold a lot of homicide in my heart. If this was another time, I’d be packing a piece.” -Jim Dine

(images courtesy of j.treadwell, printeresting, and farticulate)