ALBERT RUBENS
A lifelong tribute to the Cube
Creator of a black & white universe

 Albert Rubens (Tielt, Belgium 1944), geometric abstract painter

"Aro III" 1971,  acrylic on canvas, 80 x 100 cm

 "The Champ I" 1973, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 80 cm

"Composition I" 1979, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 120 cm

"Moving cube" 1978-80, acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 cm (Sold)

View of the exhibition "Spatial research" at Group 2 Gallery

"Composition D VI" 1982, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 cm

"Composition" 1990, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

"Composition"​ 2003, acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 cm

"Composition" ​2003, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

"Beta II" 2004, acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 cm (Sold)

Each composition is thoroughly prepared in the artist's sketchbook

"Composition" 2009, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

"Composition" (pas de deux) ​2011, acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 cm

"Composition" ​2013, acrylic on canvas, 75 x 75 cm

"Composition" 2015, acrylic on paper, 60 x 50 cm

"Composition" 2016, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 80 cm

"Composition upper left" 2016, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

"Composition lower left" ​2016, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

"Lucio Silla" ​2017, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

Rubens and french artist François Morellet in 2001

In the second half of the 1960s Albert Rubens, born in West Flanders in 1944, discovered the cubic form and its infinite potentials, not only as a flat surface but also on a three-dimensional level. Four distinctive features dominate the artist's work.  First there is a geometrical and concrete language of images. Secondly Rubens has been painting ever since exclusively in black on a snow white surface. Thirdly Rubens uses mathematics when preparing his compositions and makes a detailed study in pencil in his notebook before starting to paint, mostly in acrylic, on canvas. Finally, the artist invariably makes a whole series of works based on a very methodical approach.
​Rubens' works have been widely exhibited since the  mid-1960's, both in Belgium ( a.o. the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels in 1986 with Walter Leblanc ) and abroad ( Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Russia e.a. )
​Group 2 Gallery has shown Rubens' works in several thematic exhibitions : "The Power of Black & White" in 2014, "Geometric asbtraction", "From Rubens to Michaux" in 2016, "The Conquest of Space" in 2017, "Straight & curved lines" in 2018, "Spatial Research" and "Made in Belgium" in 2019

 

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