JIM DINE: PINOCCHIO

ALAN CRISTEA GALLERY 31 CORK STREET LONDON W1S 3NU
JIM DINE: PINOCCHIO
21 March - 14 April 2007
Private view 20 March, 6 – 8 pm
Carlo Collodi’s classic morality tale,
The Adventures of Pinocchio, is the subject of a
major body of new work by leading American artist
Jim Dine (b. 1935) at the Alan Cristea Gallery from
21 March.
Dine depicts himself as both Pinocchio and his father, Geppetto, in an
exhibition that is the result of the artist’s enduring obsessive fascination
with the story. Over the past decade he has interpreted it in drawings,
paintings, sculpture and book illustration.
Jim Dine, Pinocchio in a Caul, 2006
Lithograph, woodcut and hand-painting,
Paper and image 201.0 x 119.4 cm
Edition of 14
Many audiences know the story of Pinocchio, first published in 1883, through Disney’s cartoon
depiction. Here Dine’s interpretations explore its darker side in eight huge hand-painted
lithographs and woodcuts and a portfolio of 41 prints and an illustrated book of Collodi’s original
text.
Painter, sculptor, printmaker, performance artist, poet, and photographer, Dine began his artistic
career in New York in 1959-1960, when he staged his first ‘happenings’ in installations created
from found objects and street debris with fellow artists Claes Oldenburg and Allan Kaprow and
musician John Cage.
Since the 1960s, Dine has used printmaking with unequalled inventiveness and skill. He is well
known for his obsessive re-interpretation of the same subject matter, including hearts,
bathrobes and the Venus de Milo and is considered to be a leading figure in the emergence of
Pop Art in New York.
The exhibition at the Alan Cristea Gallery coincides with a display of Dine’s portraits at the
National Portrait Gallery, London (until June 2007), a retrospective of Dine’s etchings at the
Bibliotèque Nationale, Paris (opens April 2007) and a major exhibition of his etchings,
lithographs and woodcuts at the Musée des Beaux-arts in Caen, Normandy (opens March
2007).
The print editions were made at the studio of Michael Woolworth in Paris. In addition to Collodi’s
text illustrated by Dine’s work, Steidl will publish an illustrated hard-back catalogue to the
exhibition.
Visitor information: Gallery open 10-5.30 weekdays, 10-1 on Saturdays. T. 020 7439 1866
Press information: Contact Jeanette T. 020 7734 4800 E. jeanette@theresasimon.com