Jim Dine (b. 1935)
Tools and Dreams
etching & dry point on paper, ed. 17/50,
1985
1985 Museum Purchase in memory of John
& Olive Courtney
image: (h) 23 1/3” x (w) 38 7/8”
Introduction
Since the late 1950’s, Jim Dine has worked in a variety of media including sculpture, painting,
printmaking, assemblage and “happenings.” Dine collaborated with Claes Oldenburg in New
York to stage his first happenings, which profoundly influenced American Pop Art. Inspired by
John Cage’s radical approach to musical composition and choreographer Merce Cunningham’s
exploitive body movement, happenings involved chance and audience participation while
challenging the traditional sanctity of high culture with a disregard for artistic boundaries.
In the mid 1960’s, Dine began to incorporate ordinary objects into his art with the gestural
qualities and dynamism of Abstract Expressionism. Dine’s images of tools are autobiographical
just as his many images of neckties and bathrobes are surrogate self-portraits. Two symbols in
Tools and Dreams symbolize aspects of his life. The tools represent Dine’s childhood memories
of the hardware store owned by his family in Cincinnati. The hearts represent his wife. Dine
demonstrates his ability to transform Pop Art’s interest in common objects into an expressive
composition.
The Artist
Jim Dine was born in 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied at several art schools before
graduating from Ohio University, Athens, in 1957. In 1959 he moved to New York where he
started to exhibit his work. Along with artists Claes Oldenburg and Allan Kaprow, Dine
became involved in the first “happenings,” the name given to the theatrical art events of the
1960’s performed at the Judson Gallery. Within four years of arriving in New York, Dine
became a key player within the New York Art scene. In his paintings, he began to combine
everyday objects and possessions in a personal iconography of symbols, including the hearts and
tools for which he is known. Dine has worked in sculpture, installation, photography, drawing,
painting and printmaking, producing over three thousand works since the 1960’s, in addition to
publishing several books of illustrated poetry.
Discussion
Tools and Dreams is a large intaglio print containing two of Dine’s most frequently occurring
symbols – tools and hearts. In the work, he uses two different printmaking techniques, dry
point and etching. Dry point is produced by scratching directly onto a metal plate to create a
“burr” which when inked, results in a line or area of tone. In etching, a needle is used to draw
on a metal plate through a wax ground. The plate is then submerged in an acid bath that bites
into the surface of the metal where it is unprotected by the wax, or “ground.” The longer it is
left in the acid, the deeper the line will be incised into the plate. The plate is then removed
from the acid bath, the ground is cleaned away with solvent and ink is forced into the etched
grooves. The surface of the plate is then wiped to remove excess ink, and an impression is
made onto dampened paper with a printing press. If the artist is satisfied with the initial “proof”
image, an “edition” of multiple prints can then be printed. “Tools and Dreams” is #17 of an
edition of 50 prints and is signed by the artist.
Many of Dine's prints consist of multiple printmaking techniques using copper plates and wood
blocks. In Tools and Dreams, the two processes result in different effects of line and tone. In his
dry point work, Dine often uses power tools to draw on the metal plate, and the explosive,
splashy marks are sometimes achieved by “spitbite” a technique in which strong acid is applied
directly to the printing plate. Dine is an accomplished printmaker and his final works achieve a
full tonal range from light to velvety black, with marks ranging from soft smudged areas to hard
lines. This image was printed from two separate plates that were printed simultaneously, and
like much of his work, is spatially quite shallow, with marks that cover almost the entire surface.
Dine uses the recurring symbol of the heart to represent his wife. Each heart is a little different,
like a portrait. The tools reflect his childhood memories of the hardware store owned by his
family in Cincinnati. The work is divided visually and although both sides are not exactly
identical, the overall impression is one of symmetry. It is quite unusual to see such obvious
visual repetition in a work of art, but Dine frequently uses it in his prints. Pop artists,
particularly Andy Warhol, often repeated images in reference to mass production and
consumerism. Perhaps it is an idea that originated from Dine’s association with the Pop Art
movement of 1960’s New York. However, Dine has often noted his dislike of being lumped
under the banner of Pop Art, which he felt categorized his work in a false context that is
distracting to the viewer. The two halves of the image might represent two “selves,” past and
present, or simply be a reference to the printing process, which by its very nature is about
repetition.
This image is charged with energy. Throughout the printmaking process Dine added gestural
marks to the basic image building the background until he reached the desired visual and
emotional effect. The softly drawn, solid-looking hearts are surrounded with a volcanic eruption
of marks, which contrast strongly with the carefully drawn tools. So what is the artist trying to
say? Is he simply describing his enthusiasm for life, or should the symbols be taken literally? Is
the visual frenzy subdued or increased by the use of repetition? By repeating visual themes such
as tools, clothing, and hearts in his work, Dine has made them a part of his personal
iconography, and separated them from their normal context.
Style
Jim Dine is usually associated with Pop Art because of his use of everyday objects like tools in
his work and the fact that he was in New York at the birth of the Pop Art movement. Dine
fought this association, while simultaneously gaining popularity from it. However, his expressive
mark making is far removed from the hard-edged line used by Pop Artists such as Andy
Warhol, Tom Wesselmann and Roy Lichtenstein. Critics have compared Dine to Jasper Johns in
terms of his aesthetic sensibilities, and coined the term "American Darkness" to characterize
Dine's style. His heavily impasto method of painting allies him with Abstract Expressionism, but
his gestural prints and drawings focus on the importance of sound draftsmanship. His work is
stylistically difficult to define because of the way it changes depending on his medium. In
juxtaposing forceful, energized marks with soft, atmospheric background texture, Dine creates
a powerful response to personal modern experience.
Sources
Andrea, C. Artist Jim Dine Finds the Personal in the Popular, Christian Science Monitor (book
review), 08827729, 2/21/96, Vol. 88, Issue 59 (on EBSCOhost MasterFILE Premier)
Johnson, K. From Modernism Backward: Jim Dine's Multiple Styles (review). New York Times;
4/9/2004, Vol. 153 Issue 52814, pE38, 1/4p (on EBSCOhost MasterFILE Premier)
Jordan, J. Jim Dine at Leslie Sacks Fine Art (article review and images)
http://www.artnet.com/ag/FineArtThumbnails.asp?GID=928&CID=58252&page=1
Jim Dine: Past Present Future. Article on Toledo Museum of Art Website:
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa7.htm
Jim Dine biography, article on:
http://www.fsus.fsu.edu/educationcurriculum/tetac/popart/dine.html .