Erect Cactus

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Artist Jim Dine (American, b. 1935)

Title Erect Cactus

Date 1991

Medium Graphite, pastel, and and colored pencil on conjoined paper

Dimensions Image: 23 7/8 × 15 1/2 in. (60.6 × 39.4 cm)
Sheet: 23 7/8 × 15 1/2 in. (60.6 × 39.4 cm)
Framed: 32 1/4 × 23 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (81.9 × 60.3 × 3.8 cm)

Credit Line Museum purchase with funds from Burton and Suzanne Borgelt in honor of Linda Watson, and the Clarence W. and Mildred Long Art Purchase Fund, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 2017.74

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About this Work

Drawing becomes a complicated endeavor in Jim Dine’s later works. In this mixed-media drawing of a cactus, he not only adds a second sheet of paper but also destroys sections of the image to create highlights or add texture and dimension as seen in the cactus spikes. The idea of a pristine “archival” object gives way to an image that seems to have its own layers of history. The hairy spikes suggest an anthropomorphic quality related to Dine’s earlier pubic hair pictures, which were considered “indecent” by a British obscenity act.

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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Erect Cactus | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2017.74