Don Jim Cibachrome Photograph "Vintage Coca-Cola"

Item Details

Don Jim (Hawaii/Los Angeles, 1922-2006)
Vintage Coca-Cola, circa 1970s
Unsigned
Artist’s estate stamp with artist’s signature in plate it is present to the verso

A cibachrome photograph titled Vintage Coca-Cola by photographer Don Jim. For this work, the artist was hired to represent quintessial American symbology by photographing pop culture icons and everyday American objects. This work may have taken for an advertisement or album cover project that Jim worked on in the 1970s. The work falls in line with his tendency to find symbolism in everyday objects, both in natural phenomena and popular imagery, and transcend it into an icon with masterful lighting effects.

Chinese-American photographer Don Jim shares a proclivity for visualizing figural and symbolic imagery in abstract form and everyday objects. Born in Hawaii, he spent two years in the WWII army, then moved to Los Angeles to study photography at the Art Center College of Design. As a young commercial photographer, he created album covers for a number of musicians in the 1960s, including Jimmy Cliff, the Byrds, and Deep Purple, among others. He also produced a majority of the 3-D View Master photographs for California tourist attractions, such as Hearst Castle and Disneyland. During Jim’s career, he became recognized for his perfectionism in lighting and his ability to photograph reflective and shiny surfaces, such as glass, chrome, stainless steel, foil, and neon. This skill was transferred to the streets when he began his personal photographic projects in his 50s. It was at this time that he began a multitude of series that demonstrate his ability to transform everyday objects into abstract and symbolic beauty. Some of his subjects include the nude female form, objects embedded in asphalt streets, tar dripping on rooftops, and paint peeling off old walls. During his lifetime, not much of Jim’s work was ever seen or publicly displayed. However, after his death in 2006, his wife Margo inherited a large majority of his personal work, which today she works to preserve and exhibit for the public. Since the late artist’s passing, his work has been exhibited by Art Basel Miami, the Barry Singer Gallery, the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD), Dkrm. Gallery, Luminous-Lint, and Classic Photographs Los Angeles. To view the artist’s website, please see the link below.

Dimensions

- measurement of entire sheet; image size measures approximately 9.5" W x 13.75" H.

Item #

ITMG267715