Gideon Rubin: A Boy’s Life

New York Gallery

Gideon Rubin’s paintings are simultaneously spare and rich, simple and complex. The subjects, pared down to their essence, are described with thick, luscious paint. Their pale, muted tonal range is made up of purples, oranges, crimson, blues and greens. Though the subjects are often nostalgic, the paintings feel fresh.

Inspired by the still-life paintings of Giorgio Morandi, whose reductive compositions sought to capture something of the essential or universal in simple, everyday objects, Rubin paints from photographs in a found 1920’s photo album. Anonymous figures are caught in very familiar moments — the insignificant moments that are the stuff of collective memory.

Gideon Rubin was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and lives in London. He received his MFA from Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London. His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Tel Aviv, London, San Francisco and throughout Europe. This is his first solo exhibition in New York.