12-Foot-Tall Pinocchio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati native Jim Dine had been an artist since the 1950s, but it wasn't until the late 1990s that he became obsessed by Carlo Collodi's "The Adventures of Pinocchio." Since then, sculptures of the wooden boy have defined his career; if you see a giant Pinocchio somewhere, it's probably a Jim Dine creation. This one, a 12-foot-tall bronze, was sculpted in 2007 specifically to stand in front of Dine's hometown art museum.
Titled "Pinocchio (Emotional)," the wooden boy stretches his arms skyward. According to Dine, Pinocchio is celebrating the joy of being alive, rather than the triumph of artificial intelligence, or -- because this is Pinocchio, after all -- the fecund pleasure of lying. His nose is suspiciously long.