Carl Faber Lyrical Abstract Oil on Canvas, Signed, Gila New Mexico

Lyrical abstract oil on canvas by Carl Faber (American, Delaware — East Mojave — Gila, New Mexico), signed lower right "FABER" in the artist's distinctive stencil-style lettering with a fluid calligraphic flourish above. The composition pulses with compressed chromatic energy — saturated reds, cobalt, violet, and ochre fields punctuated by black calligraphic line work that reflects Faber's professional background in sign painting and silkscreen. Loose orbital geometries and gestural arcs place the work in dialogue with the Kandinsky lineage and mid-century American lyrical abstraction, executed in single confident strokes rather than reworked passages.

Consigned directly by Adrienne Knute, Faber's longtime partner and the author of Plants of the East Mojave (1991, repr. 2002), which Faber illustrated. Provenance is therefore from the artist's estate. Unframed, gallery-wrap style on stretched canvas; undated. Medium identified as oil on canvas based on surface handling, opacity, and the artist's documented studio practice.

CONDITION

Good overall condition with bright, stable color and no evidence of restoration. Light surface soiling and minor handling marks consistent with storage; canvas taut on stretchers. No labels or inscriptions present on the reverse.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• 24" H × 18" W × 0.3" D
• Medium: oil on canvas
• Signed lower right: "FABER"
• Undated
• Unframed, gallery-wrap stretched canvas
• No labels or inscriptions on reverse

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Carl Faber was an American painter who spent the better part of his working life in the desert, 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 West and beyond.