Israeli-born, London-based artist Gideon Rubin is known for his oil paintings of faceless figures rendered with gestural brushstrokes and a subdued palette. Often using found and vintage photographs as his source material, Rubin's work deals with themes of family, childhood and memory.
Read MoreGideon Rubin was born in Tel Aviv in 1973. His grandfather was Reuven Rubin, a well-known Romanian-born Israeli painter and ambassador. It was while on a backpacking trip in South America—after completing his Israeli military service—that Gideon Rubin received some art supplies from a friend and decided to become an artist. He received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and his MFA from the Slade School of Art, London (2002).
Rendered with gestural brushstrokes and washes of soft colours, the figures in Gideon Rubin's paintings are primarily referenced from vintage magazines, film stills, photographs and images found online. Most often working on linen, he also paints on canvas, board and directly onto photographs.
Forgoing details in favour of broad strokes, Rubin does not paint the faces of his subjects. Instead, a figure's demeanour is conveyed through their pose, attitude, dress and hair. The anonymity of the subjects opens the paintings up to multiple readings. Rubin believes that a viewer's response to a work of art depends on how much of their own ideas, thoughts and memories can be projected and activated by it.
Many of Gideon Rubin's paintings are imbued with soft eroticism. In these mostly untitled works, women are in various states of undress, adjusting their underwear or reclining nude. In Pink Top (2021), for example, a faceless woman appears to be lifting a pink tank top above her midriff, while in Red Knickers (2018), a dark-haired figure lying in lingerie turns her head toward the viewer.
Gideon Rubin's paintings have been shown in several international solo exhibitions including: The Sun Also Rises, Ryan Lee Gallery, New York (2021); Swing, Galerie Karsten Greve, St. Moritz (2021); __A Stranger's Hand, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris (2020); Gideon Rubin, Monica De Cardenas, Milan (2020); Black Book, Jerusalem Artists' House (2020); Warning Shadows" at Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne (2019); __The Kaiser's Daughter at Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco (2018); Black Book, Freud Museum, London (2018); and Memory Goes as Far as this Morning, Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art (2016).
In 2022, Rubin had his first solo exhibition in Shanghai at chi K11 Art Museum Shanghai (12 November–13 December 2022). Titled A Summer's Tale and curated by Cici Xiang, the show comprised 18 paintings which dealt with themes of childhood and adolescence.
Select group exhibitions include: Reflections: Human/Nature, Gana Art, Seoul (2021); On Cardboard, Monica De Cardenas, Milan (2021); NOF: Gideon Rubin and Eldar Farber, The Rubin Museum, Tel Aviv (2020); __How to Travel in Time at Apexart, New York (2018); The Reading Room at Rokeby, London (2017); Disturbing Innocence, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2014); Daily Memories, Klosterhaus in Magdeburg, Germany (2014); and To Have a Voice, Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow (2012).
Rubin's work is included in a number of international collections, including Museum Voorlinden Collection, The Netherlands; Herzliya Museum for Contemporary Art, Israel; McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco; The Zabludowicz Collection, London; Ruinart, France; Fondation Frances, France; Rubin Museum, Israel; Collezione Maramotti, Italy; and The Collezione Fondazione, San Patrignano, Italy.
Rubin is represented by Galerie Karsten Greve: Paris, Cologne, St Moritz; Hosfelt Gallery, San Franscisco; Fox Jensen Gallery, Sydney and Fox Jensen McCrory, Auckland; and Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv.
Elliat Albrecht | Ocula | 2023
