Jim Dine Wall Art

Jim Dine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and studied at the University of Cincinnati and at the Boston Museum School in Massachusetts. He received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Ohio University in 1957. After graduation, he moved to New York City and became involved with a circle of artists that included Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg and Roy Lichtenstein. Dine incorporates images of everyday objects in his artwork, but he diverges from the coldness and impersonal nature of Pop Art by making works that fuse personal passions and everyday experiences. His repeated use of familiar and personally significant objects, such as a robe, hands, tools, and hearts, is a signature of his art. In his early work, Dine generally created assemblages for which he attached actual objects to his painted canvases. From 1959 to 1960, Dine was also a pioneer of happenings, works of art that took the form of theatrical events or demonstrations. In 1967, Dine and his family moved to London, England, where he devoted his energies to printmaking and drawing. When he returned to the United States in 1971, he concentrated on figure drawing and became known for his series of self-portraits and for portraits of his wife, Nancy. In the early 1980s, he created sculptures based on the ancient sculpture Venus de Milo. His recent art uses imagery borrowed from ancient Greek, Egyptian and African objects.