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| Peace, 14" X 17" (or so), 1981, inquire here for print info. |
These are a couple of the pieces that Jim Dine's paintbrushes inspired. Dine's prints hit me hard as I strolled through the exhibit at the BMA--it was as if these pieces were giving me special permission to sally forth from this hallowed ground, young man, and draw for your life.
I even wrote a letter once thanking him, that these pieces inspired a whole illustration career, but it sounded so stupid that I filed it away in case I would grow the cahonies to mail it one day. So recently, I wanted to find his website, thinking I could shlep him an email, and found a list of several hundred art museums all over the world, all distinguished institutions in their own right, and dozens of galleries in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Rome, you name it, the kind of places that proudly give people like me the bum's rush, and anyway I thought, "Crap". He's way beyond the internet websites, blogging and my stupid little thank you sentiment.
And then I came across a Youtube of him being interviewed at the BMA, so I watched it with glee and there he was, my hero, the little bald headed old man, telling the interviewer that his work looked like hell out of the cheapo slide projector they were using--this is Baltimore (The Big Bananna), after all. Laughed my ass off.
Well, so here I sit all these years later offering my sincere thanks to you Mr. Dine, sir, I really liked your hairy paint brushes. There, I said it. Still can't sleep.
Wm
7 comments:
I'm a fan of Mr. Dine's work as well. Send the letter!! At least you'll get some sleep if you do and you never know - maybe he'll respond.
All right maybe, I'll dig it out. But I'm proofreading it first. One needs to handle these matters delicately, you know missives to Mt Olympus and all. I'm such a coward. Maybe I'll make a blog post out it, and share the love (no pun intended). Wm
Hello Mr. Cook, I admit, I had to go and look up Mr. Dine's work. I enjoyed it and think it must be great to see in person. I definitely enjoyed your war and pies! Wonderful drawing and paintings too.
Peggy--Thanks you so much. I apologize for forgetting to put reference links in. Thanks for the reminder. Oh, and do call me Bill! I read Mr. and started looking around for my dad. Bill
i really liked this post. I have been in the same situation a couple of times, where I wanted to write a thankyou note to somebody, going through exactly the same emotions that you described so well , and ending up doing...nothing. But then again, people are just people, and admiration, gratitude or whatever, is probably something we all appreciate.
And I really like your work.
Are the drawings of the lion statues (the ones hanging in the hallway at Aunt Casey's house) part of this set? They look like the same style. The thing I like about these is the haunting, gothic feel. They could be illustrations in a book of Grimm's fairytales. The objects in the drawing seem realisticly heavy, but the splattery dots and swoopy lines make it look like a scene from a dream that could flicker away and change at any moment.
Hey Anonymous--They are the same ones indeed. Oooo shape shifting art. Never thought of that. I like swoopy. Til the future--\\///\
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