Jim Dine in Seoul

The month of May brought the studio to Seoul, Korea for the installation and opening of My Words & Pinocchio, at PIBI Gallery. The exhibition is on view through July 04, 2026 and marks Jim’s first solo presentation at the gallery since debuting new works at Frieze Seoul 2025 as a represented artist.

My Words & Pinocchio features eight new Pinocchio drawings, a sculptural work, poem drawings derived from the artist’s own poems, and a wall drawing created in situ. Rather than elucidating the meaning of Jim’s symbolic imagery, the exhibition foregrounds the processes through which images are constructed, altered, and continually reconfigured across the surface. Across drawing, sculpture, and wall drawing alike, Jim’s signature iconography resists simple repetition. Instead, it unfolds through continual variation, with each recurrence emerging as a renewed and transformed iteration.

The gallery’s director, HaeKyung Kim, and her team welcomed the studio and produced a beautiful exhibition. The centerpiece of which is a large scale, wooden Pinocchio from 2007, The Liar (2nd version), shown at The Venice Biennale in 2007.

Jim works on a large wall drawing in the gallery. The text comments on his lifelong relationship to Pinocchio.

We had a very rich week in Seoul meeting the team from both the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA). During our stay, we also spent a morning exploring Yoo Youngkuk: A Mountain Within Me at SeMA. This comprehensive retrospective marks the 110th birth anniversary of a true pioneer of Korean abstract art and features over 170 works and archival materials spanning six decades.

Jim Dine: My Words & Pinocchio

May 28 - July 04, 2026

PIBI Gallery
Seoul

03053 서울시 종로구 북촌로 125-6
125-6 Bukchon-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Korea, 03053
T +82 2 6263 2004
F +82 2 6263 2003 
info@pibigallery.com
Tuesday-Saturday 11:00 ~ 18:00
Closed Sundays, Mondays