Untitled

Figurative painter Gideon Rubin repurposes found anonymous photographs and published images as subjects for his portraits. Through a process of selection, editing, and distillation, Rubin creates nontraditional portraits that feature a disturbing absence; none of his figures have facial features. By removing his subjects from their original context and concealing identifying characteristics, he maintains their anonymity and invites open interpretation. Indeed, he encourages viewers to fill in the voids with their own memories and experiences, generating a multiplicity of meanings and narrative possibilities. Here, Rubin repurposes a page removed from a mid 20th-century Chinese film magazine. These popular illustrated magazines, known as hua bao, were banned by Chinese leader Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) for being insufficiently communist.