Carl Faber Abstract Figural Oil Painting Signed Framed

Original abstract figural oil on stretched canvas by Carl Faber, signed lower right. The composition is structured around a dense, interwoven central form that suggests a seated or crouched figure, rendered through overlapping biomorphic and angular shapes. Rather than fully defining anatomy, Faber fractures and compresses the subject into a rhythmic arrangement of torso-like masses, limb-like passages, and calligraphic linear accents, allowing the image to hover between figuration and abstraction.

A palette of ochre, tan, cream, green, violet, red, and black evokes desert earth, mineral tones, and shifting light, reinforcing a strong connection between figure and landscape. Thin translucent passages, scumbled texture, and confident gestural brushwork animate the surface, while darker linear marks provide structure and movement. The result is a compelling and layered composition that rewards sustained viewing.

Condition:
In good condition overall, with wear consistent with age. Visible craquelure is present across the surface. The frame shows chipping and damage at one corner. Displays well.

Size:
Overall: 25.25 x 21.5 x 0.875 inches
Visible: 23.25 x 19.5 inches

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY — Carl Faber
(Delaware — East Mojave — Gila, New Mexico)

Carl Faber was an American painter who spent the better part of his working life in the desert Southwest, developing a distinctive body of work rooted in sustained, first-hand observation of the natural world. He studied commercial art at a vocational school in Delaware, and worked professionally in sign painting, metalwork, business displays, and silkscreening in Florida and California before redirecting his energies entirely toward easel painting.

In 1972, Faber moved to the East Mojave desert to focus on landscape painting, studying the desert terrain that would become his hallmark subject for more than three decades. His artwork and austere desert lifestyle attracted attention from both local and national press during the 1980s, and organizations such as the Sierra Club and Friends of the Mojave Road brought a steady stream of visitors and buyers to his remote studio. It was in the East Mojave that Faber developed his philosophy of field painting — a rigorous commitment to painting directly from nature rather than from photographic reference, a practice he defended on both technical and philosophical grounds.

Faber's experiences with LSD in the 1960s shaped his perception of the natural world in ways he believed gave him an unusually acute sensitivity to color, light, and structural relationships in nature. This perceptual intensity carried through into his studio work as well — evident in the compressed chromatic energy and restless formal invention of canvases such as the present work. His training as a sign painter gave him a command of calligraphy and the importance of accurate, deft brushstrokes, producing a freshness and clarity achieved through single, confident marks rather than reworked passages.

Faber illustrated his partner Adrienne Knute's botanical study Plants of the East Mojave, published in 1991 and reprinted in 2002, demonstrating both his draftsmanship and his deep engagement with the Mojave ecosystem. He and Adrienne first came to Gila Hot Springs, New Mexico, in 2004 — originally seeking a winter home — but fell in love with the place and made it their permanent residence. It is from this final chapter of his life, based in the Gila wilderness near Silver City, that the present work originates.

Faber was known as a committed teacher who accepted students on a non-commercial basis, preferring to pass on his technical knowledge and philosophical outlook to those he judged capable of genuine dedication. He described his approach as one that "would have nothing to do with money." A notice from the ACE Studio Art Gallery in Silver City confirmed his passing, the date of which has not yet been independently verified in published sources. His work remains held in private collections across the Southwest and beyond.