Jim Dine
DOG ON THE FORGE
On the occasion of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia this April, American painter, sculptor and poet Jim Dine is set to take over the Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfù with an ambitious survey exhibition curated by Gerhard Steidl, Founding Director of the Kunsthaus Göttingen. Open from 20 April through 21 July, 2024.
“To those who make the effort to look carefully, Jim Dine offers the passage of a long time, the time of the studio’s seclusion, the historical time of the hand searching but also the memory of so many paintings once admired, destroyed, or forgotten. He invents ‘images-times”, both deep and fleeting, where the painter’s inner time meets the subjective time of contemplation”
Extract of Jim Dine’s catalogue ‘Grace and Beauty”, 2022
Jim Dine – Dog on the Forge presents around 50 works from the artist. Paintings, drawings, bronze and wood sculptures, as well as an impressive outdoor installation of large-scale
bronze sculptures. The exhibition debuts monumental and site-specific works conceived specifically for the Biennale Arte 2024. Never-before-exhibited paintings and sculptures will
be arranged in dialogue with each other and with artworks spanning from the ‘80s through today. Curator Gerhard Steidl drew inspiration from Dine’s relentless odysseys between
the United States and Europe, as well as his lifetime dedication to the concept of visual, cultural, and linguistic hybridization. “My whole life, I’ve been in motion. I find it difficult to sit
still. It’s a hyperactive quality, I would say. I’ve always enjoyed going from studio to studio, country to country. For me, traveling is like using red. It’s another thing to make the picture.
Installed in a 14th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal, here the ancient meets contemporary in a palatial, Venetian context, casting a reflective light on Jim Dine’s personal history and
perspective. Reinterpreting his now classical language of tools, hearts, self-portraits, Venuses and Pinocchios (which will have a dedicated room in the exhibition), the show will take
over the two floors of the palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal as well as its 18th-century sculpture garden. When asked about the new paintings, Dine remarks, “I’m not interested in
making them pretty. I’m interested in carving out images that will move you.” Conceived as a poetic journey, the exhibition outlines the complexity of an intimate oeuvre deeply rooted
in his knowledge of European art history, and a relentless exploration of language and self.
The Waltz (Grunewald)
The artist
Born in 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jim Dine lives and works in Paris, Göttingen (Germany) and Walla Walla (USA). Pioneer of the happening and associated with the Pop Art movement, he has always followed a unique path. He experiments extensively with different techniques, working with wood, lithography, photography, metal, stone and paint. The tool and the creative process are just as important as the finished work. The artist explores the themes of the self, the body and memory, drawing on a personal iconography made up of hearts, veins, skulls, Pinocchio and tools.
