Victor Rubin

This show is the first solo exhibition of the artist’s work in over three years despite having exhibited for the last 50 years. The artist has been a finalist in many prestigious prizes such as the Archibald Prize, Sir John Sulman Prize, and the Doug Moran Prize. His work is held in the permanent collections of all major galleries in Australia. 

Rubin is a longstanding cricket fan and this body of work traces the history of The Ashes back to the mid-century with greats like Keith Miller and modern day masters such as Shane Warne. 

The exhibition traces not only a history of the sport, but also the artist’s enjoyment of the game over a lifetime. This body of work illustrates the different ways we consume sporting events, from photographs encountered post-match, to TV coverage, to the raw emotion of viewing the event live in person. One of the artist’s fondest memories of his old friend and mentor John Olsen was the pair sketching the scenes from the 2010 Tests at the MCG. 

This series explores the highs and lows of the game, from a dominant 5-0 win in 2006/07 led by Shane Warne to the Australian side’s last defeat on home soil in 2010/11. Near-life-size portraits of Keith Miller represent the Ashes series from the year that Rubin was born. The paintings were completed using iconic photographs where the batsman is captured in motion. The realism seen in the portraits of Keith Miller contrasts with the artist’s ‘Howzat!’ (2006), where Rubin employs his characteristic cubist treatment with figures that border on caricature.

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