Jim Dine: Grace and Beauty

Jim Dine, the 87-year-old legend of American art, is taking over the two floors of Galerie Templon’s vast space Rue du Grenier-Saint-Lazare in Paris with “Grace and Beauty”, a spectacular series of previously unseen pieces, specially created for the show.

Jim Dine, who has been an intermittent Parisian for the last twenty years, is often associated with the pioneering days of New York happenings and the glorious era of the American Pop Art. Yet he remains, fiercely independent, insisting on total freedom of form. The new work demonstrates his capacity to push the boundaries of technical experimentation even further: his bronze surfaces either imitate wood slabs or industrial foam; with their sophisticated colours, the hand-patinated sculptures rival with the paintings. Axes and hammers dialogue with fragments of faces and heart shapes. Disarmingly simple as well as delightfully sophisticated, brutal yet delicate, the new series seeks to reaffirm the absolute freedom of the artist: the power to identify the unchartered territories of beauty.