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A Contextual Review/ Breakdown of Gideon Rubin and His WorksGideon Rubin Rubin, born 1973 in Tel Aviv, Israel is a contemporary artist who is infamous for his post traumatic experience paintings and portraits which are infamous for the somewhat disturbing absence of facial features (in the context of painting people). Gideon Rubin had grown up inspired by the world around him and was enticed by art from a young age. However, it was on September 11th 2001 that Gideon’s work and style changed forever. Upon witnessing the 9/11 first-hand from his friends rooftop upon a visit to New York. Ultimately, this had scared him deeply and changed the way in which he would paint forever. Before witnessing the events of the 9/11 terrorist attack, Gideon used to paint from life; taking inspirations from the world around him, painting self-portraits which took months to finish.In an interview with Artspace he states “I remember coming back to London a few days later and feeling that if I didn't get back to painting right away, I would lose my mind. I had to communicate in a more direct style. This meant working in more simple style and finishing a work more quickly, so I began painting old, abandoned toys and dolls. Faceless portraits came a couple of years later.”(Alex Greenburger . (2013).?Gideon Rubin on the Tragic Origin of His Faceless Portraits.?Available: HYPERLINK ". Last accessed 27/04/17" . Last accessed 27/04/17.)After a number of years, Gideon finally began to paint from pictures and landscapes; which ultimately inflated his interest in late 19th and early 20th century photography. What intrigued him the most was a mixture of the anatomy and style of the era (Victorian and Edwardian); as well as the mystery of the history of the photographs he was tapping into.*It is easy to believe that witnessing such a traumatic event unfold before his eyes would indeed change many aspects of Gideon Rubin’s life and how he would later perceive things in a different light. It would be a great surprise for his work to take an even lighter, uplifting turn after his experience, so it makes sense that his later work took a much more morbid, somewhat unsettling turn.Gideon Rubin’s eventual take on painting scenes in which people lack facial features tells me that he may have still been dealing with certain emotions; that he may have not known how to feel and may have been stuck in a form of empathetic purgatory. As someone who was struggling to cope with his own emotions, it makes sense that he may have felt a deeper connection to portraits with no visible emotion; perhaps as a reflection of his inner self. Or so I hypothesize. Gideon’s WorksGideon Rubin has an outstanding back catalogue of work which is as vast as it is fascinating, many of his post experience art work are left untitled, and as a result, it is difficult to gain a sense of perspective on exactly how vast his library of work is. However, some of his most well know and modern pieces are selling for thousands of dollars.2695575132969000For example, the Painting ‘Topless’ depicting a naked woman with blonde brown hair, lacking facial features is auctioning for $5000-$7500. In addition, the painting ‘Boxer’ depicting a young shirtless man in an old (preferably Edwardian) English boxing form. Selling for $10,000-$15,000. The Boxer is one of my favourites as even though he is void of facial features, he appears very steadfast and determined as a result of his form (guard) and how he seems ready to protect his face (as boxers would lower their chin for protection).-19050889000Hosfelt Gallery . (2017). Gideon Rubin . Available: . Last accessed 27/04/17. (Topless) Hosfelt Gallery . (2017). Gideon Rubin . Available: . Last accessed 27/04/17. (Boxer)One of Gideon Rubin’s most highly valued and proclaimed Pieces is the ‘Yellow Blindfold’ which depicts a woman with medium long, light brown hair adorn with a long, low hanging bright yellow blindfold tied around her head. In addition, the blindfolded woman is holding what appears on old M1911 pistol (which found immense popularity after its introduction in WW1 and use in WW2). This painting is very difficult to dissect and assess; which may have led to its popularity and high price. This piece is currently on sale for $20,000-$30,000.2952750185737500Now, among many of the truly amazing works by Gideon Rubin; many of which I could say are my favourite, there is one that stands out to me among the rest, for both its aesthetic Beauty and the very calm, soothing subject of portrait. The painting in question being the ‘Black Cat’. This painting depicts a young woman/girl with lightly pale skin, with light brown braided hair converging upon resting on her shoulder with light bangs gently drawn down from the right side of her head. The girl, who is wearing what looks to be a light shirt or nightgown his stood holding what looks to be a very content, raven black cat. This magnificent portrait is on sale for $5000-$7500 (one I would love to claim for myself). -6667512192000Hosfelt Gallery . (2017). Gideon Rubin . Available: . Last accessed 27/04/17. (Yellow Blindfold)Hosfelt Gallery . (2017). Gideon Rubin . Available: . Last accessed 27/04/17. (Black Cat)2895600254889000Now, perhaps one of the biggest bafflements I have come across on any project I have attempted. Before I even knew of Gideon Rubin, I was experimenting with various different character designs for my project, in the end, I managed to design what appeared to be a young woman/late teen with medium length black hair, a plain white collared shirt, black knee length formal skirt (with the shirt tucked in) and black women’s slip on shoes. I had chosen to design her without facial features so that the player of my (theoretical) game would feel more compelled to the environments around them rather than a single character/personality (or better yet, lack thereof). Nonetheless, I stumbled upon a very nice piece by Gideon Ruin which I feel perfectly captures the essence of the character I was aiming to design, this piece being called ‘White Shirt’. The value of this piece is currently unknown as it is part of a collection in the Alon Segev Gallery. I will provide a sample of my design so that you may see the similarities I have mentioned. -6351905000(Daniel Armstrong, ‘Child of Perdition’ character design, 2017) LeftHosfelt Gallery . (2017). Gideon Rubin . Available: . Last accessed 27/04/17.I could asset myself on an entire project centred around all of the amazing works of Gideon Rubin and be very content doing so, but I believe that the paintings and portraits I have provided and briefly analysed portray to a fair extent what art style I am aiming achieve; or at the very least, the particular and unique trait of neglecting facial features. Why Have I Chosen the Art Style of Gideon Rubin/pursued it for my Character Development/Designs?As discussed, I believe that a large part of the reason why Gideon Rubin eventually chose to portray people void of facial features is due to witnessing such a traumatic event (as discussed earlier in my report) and is as such, a projection of his emotions; finding it hard to comprehend his emotions. However, even though I would quite like to adopt his art style for the sake of my project, I am doing so for unrelated, yet just as intuitive reasons.The way in which I develop and derive my scenes and designs (in context to my FMP) is via photo composite, I find that I am able to make almost anything within reason and that it is the best way in which I can explore and implement both my creativity and moderate skill. One of the biggest problems I had have to consider whilst designing a product for (but not exclusive to) a minority, religious based audience is misrepresentation; in the case of my project, misrepresentation of both faith and culture. Part of my original theoretical hypothesis was that, since everyone are individuals, it would not be acceptable to try and represent an entire minority as a whole with my general accumulative knowledge of the Mormon faith and culture; especially through a small variety/ singular character. With this in mind, I decided that I would make the protagonist of my (theoretical) game as simplistic and open to interpretation as possible. I believed that if I am trying to portray a non-bias interpretation of a minority faith group, then I would best achieve this through game content, narrative and scene design. I believed that designing characters void of facial features would create somewhat of a disconnect with the character; so that they might be used as more of a medium in which to progress through the game, rather than distribute depth among all aspects of my game, focus more attention on cleverly told narrative and level design. ................
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