I wrote about the Pinocchio series before and kinda wondered why Jim Dine was so fascinated with Pinocchio.  Well…I had a chance to ask him, personally.

Last night, I walked in to Pace Wildenstein in Chelsea and saw more statues of Pinocchio than what was exhibited at the New York Public Library earlier this year.   It was a good show to walk in on - a lot of buzz along with the artist, himself.

Like I said in January:

“….My biggest problem with these works is I don’t understand why Jim Dine painted them in the first place.  What about Pinocchio does he find so fascinating?”

So I went up and asked him:

Me:   Jim, I saw your show at the New York Public Library earlier this year when I attended Google Unbound, and the whole show was about Pinocchio.  What is it about Pinocchio that “does it for you“? 

Jim Dine: Pinocchio is a tremendously moving story.  Have you read Pinocchio? 

Me: No really, I have only seen the Disney movies.

Jim Dine: The whole story is filled with a lot of pain and turmoil and is incredibly deep.

Me: OK, well I guess I have to read the book because not all of that comes though the stereotypes from the Disney Films (along with Jimmy Cricket, etc).

I did not try to engage Jim Dine any more (I probably upset him a little by asking him if “Pinocchio did it for him“) but I can see where I got my notion of Pinocchio from … good old Walt.  

I can’t think about Pinocchio, so easily as a deep subject, because I keep thinking of the Cricket and the cartoons.

I admit, when you compare Jim Dine’s work against the Disney there is a disparity - maybe I should read that book on Pinocchio ..but it’s not on the top of my reading list.

Also Jim Dine kinda looked a little like the puppet-master or whoever the guy in the mustache in the Disney movie is supposed to be - minus the mustache.

I’ll end this post by noting that while think of myself as someone with deep insights - life is never that simple and each person is a ball on contradictions; for someone with “deep insights” I am also seduced by the 2D stereotypes of Pinocchio that I saw as a child via Walt Disney.    I was more interested in why Jim Dine was focusing so much on a Disney character - making shows, upon shows, of work, rather than something more in line with what is really happening in the world today.

But part of me wanted to get a rise out of him too.

I think I’ll stop here.