Choir of Poems

Choir of Poems is the latest proof of Jim Dine's irrepressible commitment to making art beyond artistic labels. Presenting paintings, drawings, sculptures-as well as compelling hybrid forms-this book shows Dine's passion for eclectic materiality while exploring his inner landscapes. As much as he is dedicated to the now-the moment of creation, of process-Dine's work today is often a dialogue with the past. Take for example the three works central to Choir of Poems, each a conversation with a different, dear person from Dine's past, loved ones now gone. Chairs stand before these expansive paintings as integrated sculptural elements, while metal pipes spring from the paint's relief-like surface (itself rejecting mere two-dimensionality)-creating a new imposing form of painting-sculpture. Confessional texts in Dine's unmistakable sprawling hand give insight into these works as well as other inventive series like '49 Views on the North Crescent,' based on accident. Here Dine spontaneously drew plants and tools onto aluminum printing plates he had already prepared for lithographs; while a monumental bronze sculpture of a hammer deepens his ongoing fascination with tools: their forms, their materials, and the imagination they unlock within the artist. Seen together, Dine's choir is a vast self-portrait composed of individual voices, each an expression of his endlessly curious mind, hands and heart.