Jim Dine | The Heart After the Flood | 2011

Jim Dine has been using images of hearts to express a range of emotional and symbolic ideas for nearly 40 years. Of the symbols that play a recurring role in his theater of life—tools from his studio, the Venus de Milo statue—the heart is perhaps the most explicit symbol. Dine puts his heart on his sleeve (or canvas), evoking in the viewer a chance to relax our always-critical minds and, instead, think with our hearts.

Dine has been part of American art history since the early 1960s. On his arrival in New York he became part of the downtown “Happenings” scene, where artists began creating inexpensive, accessible works that combined theater, performance and sculpture. Dine’s use of common, popular imagery (the “pop” in Pop Art), links him to artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. But Dine was never cynical or ironic about the images he drew from everyday culture. Instead, Dine’s earnest search for a talisman is meant to give us comfort and support as we, too, search for meaning.