Gideon Rubin: Memory goes as far as this morning

"Memory goes as far as this morning" marks Israeli-born APT artist Gideon Rubin’s first solo show in a public art space in the U.S. The work exhibited at the ICA is the result of two residencies – one in Israel at Outset's Bialik Residency and one in China – where Rubin worked on pages taken from local newspapers and popular magazines, painting over some photographs and leaving other untouched; blotting out some text and leaving other passages intact. In both places, Rubin assumed the role of a cultural tourist trying to find some general internal code, rather than trace his own personal story. Out of space and out of time, his anonymous figures become the characters we can all recognize in ourselves – familiar and familial.

Through this work, Rubin presents a challenge to the viewer – an invitation to view with doubt and uncertainty the presumed objectivity of photography and the media. His painterly intrusions into these publications serve to undermine their journalistic veracity and bring into question society’s acceptance of their claims to truth.