PAINTER'S BREAD
November 2010
Ken Dubin at Unity Gallery
Located within the Library of the MUM campus iUnity Gallery, possibly the quietest place in Fairfield. It makes perfect sense then, that the work of Ken Dubin be shown there—subtle works of contemplation, nestled in an inner sanctum, within a place of calm.
Ken Dubin is a Chicago native who recently moved to Fairfield. The framing business that he established there is known as one of the finest in the city and his own paintings are recognized by other artists as works that are in tune with the formal aspects of the medium and active in their effect on the viewer.
Working primarily in white, Dubin explores its many nuances with other colors layered within lyrical brush-strokes that arc in various angles, forming web-like patterns that invite the viewer to look through them in a process of unfolding and discovery. This exploration of white is central to Dubin’s work and his relationship with that color has been progressing since 1979. According to the artist, white carries the “potential of all possibility,” and its use is integral to the themes surrounding his work: time, origin, growth, change, transcendence and rebirth.
Each interchange with these pieces is a lesson learned in paint. In my own experience with the poetic work of this artist, I’ve found myself staring deeper into each painting, searching the many layers and discovering how each color was used in relation to the other. Dubin’s thorough experimentation with color over a time span dating back to 1979 is a testament to his own patience and maturity as painter. This long term search within the chromatic confines and range of one color—white, in particular, finds Dubin charting a similar course with that of the artist Robert Ryman, who has also worked mainly with white. There is, however, a major difference between the two; while Ryman is purely concerned with the material aspects of paint, Dubin seeks to impart an effect on the senses through the paint.
The current exhibition at Unity Gallery includes work from Dubin’s Emergence / Burial / … series, along with selected pieces from 1979 to the present.
Unity Gallery
Maharishi University of Management
Fairfield, IA
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