Jim Dine in Venice

My attitude towards drawing is not necessarily about drawing. It’s about making the best kind of image I can make, it’s about talking as clearly as I can. - Jim Dine

At age 88, Jim Dine is still works, travels and continues to create new works of art in multiple styles and a variety of mediums. He divides his time among homes and studios in Paris, Göttingen, Germany and Walla Walla. “When you paint every day, all year long,” he said, “then the subject is essentially the act of working.”

 

 

The simple, familiar objects that he uses in his work, like tools, hearts and bathrobes, imbue his art with a feeling of innocence and nostalgia. Dine is able to convey his deep feelings for these objects in his drawings and paintings, especially the tools that were an important part of his childhood…objects he became familiar with at his family’s hardware store.

 

Brush Drawn on Stones #5, 2010 is a classic example of Dine’s skill in using the images of paint brushes to allow the viewer to see these commonplace objects as the artist sees them. Picabia ll (Forgot), 1971 is  one of several works that Dine created in memory of Francis Picabia (1879-1953), one of the principal figures of the Dada movement in both Paris and New York. Both Brush Drawn on Stones #5 and Picabia ll (Forgot) are available at VFA.

 

Thirty-two recently created, site-specific works by Dine will be on display at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia from April 20 through July 21, 2024. The exhibit will be installed in a 14th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal.

His work is currently on exhibit at the 125 Newbury Gallery in Manhattan through April 20th. 

 

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 Susumu Kamijo has been painting poodles for about a decade, thanks, in part, to his wife. When they began dating, Kamijo accompanied her to dog grooming shows where he sketched the poodles while she worked.

 

His focus on poodles has continued, although the style of his work has become more abstract, his has expanded his use of materials and he has been creating sculptural works. 

 

 

Kamijo was born in Japan in 1975 and emigrated to the U.S. when he was sixteen. He received an MFA from the University of Washington, where he befriended fellow student, Jonas Wood. 

 

One of our recent acquisitions, Comes A Time, 2022, combines silkscreen and woodblock techniques. Kamijo’s sculpture, The Sinner at Dusk, 2021, combines walnut wood and oil paint. 

 

Kamijo lives and works in Brooklyn with his wife and, of course, their dogs.

 

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April 10, 2024