This is the latest in a series of paintings by self-taught artist Charles Rabin (1897-1983) that I have turned up on by one in various places, each time feeling an immediate spark from them before I consciously realize who did them. This one I found in Pennsylvania, and it drew me like a magnet from across the room with its strangeness--and that glowing sky! I take the large figure for a snowman, all white with black hat and scarf, sort of floating/looming over the scene like a vision or a ghost, and looking a bit as if about to go knock on the door of one of those little houses. Wonderfully surreal, and perhaps a bit melancholic too, as if the heat of the sun lighting that orange sky were foreshadowing his melting away.
What I know about Charles Rabin is that he did not begin painting until he was 70 (with paints left over from a paint by numbers kit), had no formal training and, as told by his family, was not studying the work of other artists. Born in Warsaw Poland, he emigrated to the U.S. by way of England as a young man and settled in Brooklyn, making his living as a sample maker in the garment industry, then later running a poultry farm in Elmer, New Jersey. Late in life, upon the coaxing of his family, his work was exhibited at a series of venues around New Jersey and in a solo show at the Socrates Parakis Gallery in Philadelphia.
Framed as found: 14" x 12". Oil on canvas board painting: 9 7/8" x 7 7/8". All in very good condition, c. 1970s.
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