Jim Dine

Often associated with Pop art and the Happenings of the 1960s, Dine became known for his paintings, prints, and sculptures--works that employed recurring themes such as tools, hearts, and bathrobes. We will focus on the subject for which Dine is most renowned: his iconic images of tools.

Jim Dine Quotes: The immediacy of drawing attracts me. I don’t mean the quickness of drawing. I mean the fact that you can take your finger and make a drawing. You don’t have to wait for things to dry. It’s a direct thing to do. It seems to me to be a rather primary act…and it suits me. I just happen to like the look of the surface that’s been erased and left. It’s…like a strata. I think it enriches the surface and ultimately, if the drawing works at all, it will make it a richer drawing to look at. It’s about the history of the drawing. I like to leave the history in. For me, drawing is all about looking--looking hard, seeing it, taking it out, putting it back again to see if I can rebuild it better. I can imagine that if I live two hundred years, I’ll still be correcting. It’s the corrections that are interesting. They are the history of each drawing.

Dine’s objective was not to become a figurative artist, instead, he says it is all about looking--looking hard. For over thirty years later, drawing remains at the core of his range of expression.

Dine uses a very physical approach to drawing. Some areas of his drawings are abraded and torn. Dine aims to have his works convey a sense of history, the weathered signs of their own making.

Student Work:

Assignment September 8 Chose a tool and study it. Think about the function it fulfills. Think about how to place it on your paper that it is interesting to look at. Is it going to show movement, will it be more static? You can repeat the same tool looking at it from different angles. Use your whole paper! Experiment with a variety of media: Use charcoal, graphite, conte, ink, collage. Experiment with a variety of lines, marks and textures such as: Dark lines, soft lines, expressive lines, implied lines, rubbings, washes, erasure, etc. Think of negative and positive shapes. Before you start complete several contour and gesture drawings of your “tool”. Try different approaches to drawing the same object. Two finished drawings need to be on 18” x 24” paper or larger if you choose. Try different types of paper! Complete research on Jim Dine in your journal.