FROM THE ARCHIVE | Three decades ago, GRAY presented the 1993 exhibition, Jim Dine: New Paintings. The exhibition debuted a series of oil paintings from 1992 and 1993 in which Dine depicts the heart symbol, one of the artist's signature motifs. Along with tools, robes, Pinocchio and the Venus de Milo, hearts are prominently featured in Jim Dine’s media-spanning practice. The heart, like other select imagery in Dine’s work, is easily recognizable, at once innocent and agreeable, and yet, with Dine’s hand, much more complex, sometimes threatening and deeply personal. When asked about his fascination with the heart, Dine noted, "I use it as a template for all my emotions. It’s a landscape for everything. It’s [...] based on something very simple but building to a complicated structure. Within that you can do anything in the world." Dine approaches the iconography with sincerity, using the motif as an entry point to introspection, expressionism, and artistic experimentation. From very early on in his career through to the present, Dine has employed the heart as an integral component of his practice, producing and reworking variations on the theme in different media, scale, color, texture and composition. Pictured: 1. Jim Dine, Sweetness in the Center, 1993; 2. Jim Dine, In My Eye, I Saw Creely's Bright Face, 1992; 3. Jim Dine, When My Rage Cooled...I Once Again Thought of Germany, 1993. @jimdinestudio #jimedine #richardgraygallery #graychicago #grayarchive