Jim Dine, 26, is one of those artists who are hard to take seriously and equally hard to laugh off. They produce kooky art so earnestly that it makes a certain sense. In his current show at Manhattan's Martha Jackson Gallery, Dine concentrates on paintings of articles of clothing —suspenders, shoes, hats, and a gaudy parade of neckties. Dine fans have bought up three-fourths of the paintings, and the show boasts a learned interpretation by the British critic Lawrence Alloway. who was recently named curator at the Guggenheim.
Cincinnati-born Dine hit the Manhattan scene...