Gideon Rubin: Once Removed

Gideon Rubin asks what it means to be a contemporary painter by using anonymous photographs, often from the turn of the century. He then selects characters and scenes which he conveys onto canvas or linen. Through the use of broad brushstrokes and a muted palette, the figures and landscapes are often abstracted, details are effaced and scenes move in and out of the picture plane. The surfaces of the paintings reveal strata of previous paintings or are scraped back to reveal the canvas beneath. In other instances, Rubin leaves entire areas of canvas untouched so that they become integral parts of the work whilst drawing attention to the paintings support. Embedded within layers of paint or receding from view, it is as if his selected characters are entrenched in multiple histories or are unrecoverable in the here and now. And as such, the artist asks what it means to paint and to transplant people and objects into his selected medium. In bringing paintings representational possibilities and its self-reflective qualities within reach of each other, Gideon Rubin asks the viewer to consider the act of painting and its legacy.

“Though firmly ensconced in the 21st century, Gideon Rubin is unquestionably a painter of history. His is a complex and multivalent history, one that draws in equal measure on the past and the present, the known and the unknowable, the personal and the universal. It is shaped by chance, by place, by family, by beauty, by the masters who came before; formed by his childhood in Israel, global travels, studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the Slade School in London, the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Prado, and the pages of the Daily Mail and Hello! magazine.”
Painting History by Sarah Suzuki

GIDEON RUBIN

Gideon Rubin (b.1973) is an Israeli artist based in London. He received his BFA from School of Visual Arts in New York and MFA from Slade School of Art in London.

He has had numerous international solo exhibitions, most recent include 'Memory goes as far as this morning' at Chengdu MOCA, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, and San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (2015/16), 'Questions of Forgiveness' at Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris (2016), 'Delivering Newspaper' at Rokeby Gallery, London (2015), ‘On the Road’ at Hosfelt Gallery San Francisco and ‘Last Year’s Man’ at Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris (2013), ‘Measured Distance’ at ROKEBY, London and ‘Brief Encounters’ at Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne (2012).

Selected group exhibitions include ‘The Reading Room’ Rokeby Gallery, London, ‘Words Without Letters’ at Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv (2015), 'Nourish' at Napa Valley Museum, CA (2015), 'Disturbing Innocence' at FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2014), 'Daily Memories' at Klosterhaus in Magdeburg, Germany (2014), ‘To Have a Voice’ at the Mackintosh Museum, Glasgow and ‘Kunstlerkinder’ at Kunsthalle Emden, Germany (2012); ‘Lines Made By Walking’ at Haifa Museum of Art and ‘Facelook’ at Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2011); 'To Change Air a Little' Beit Bialik, Tel aviv (2010); Beijing Biennale at the National Art Museum, China and ‘Family Traces’ at Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2009).

Gideon Rubin was the recipient of the ‘Shifting Foundation’ grant in 2014 and Outset residency programme, Tel Aviv in 2013. New monograph on Gideon's work was published by Art / Books Publishers in July 2015. He is represented by Galerie Karsten Greve (Paris, Cologne, St Moritz), ROKEBY (London), Hosfelt Gallery (San Franscisco) and Alon Segev Gallery (Tel Aviv).

Exhibition Opening: Wednesday 17 May 2017 / 7:30pm

Exhibition Times: 10am-1pm Monday – Friday, and by appointment.