"The Guardian of the Absolute" by John Barnes Dobbs (American, 1931-2011), oil on canvas, signed bottom left but not dated, ACA Galleries (New York) label on back, framed - 21 3/4" x 18"
 
Describing himself as a self taught artist (despite having studied under the likes of Jack Levine and Ben Shahn), Barnes began his career as a figurative painter in the 1950s, with his first solo exhibition at the Grippi Gallery in New York in 1959. His work was exhibited at MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Butler Institute of American Art, and the Salon Populiste in Paris. From 1972 to 1996, he was a professor of art at John Jay College, and was a member of the National Academy since 1976.
Dobbs work has been opined to be both beautiful and disturbing. It's been said that Dobbs "worked from memory and imagination, employing both literal and symbolic imagery to invoke America's collective preoccupations and dreams. Those dreams, as Dobbs conceived them, can sometimes be terrifying." Toward the end of his life, Dobbs said of his work, "I'm not afraid to say I've made paintings that can be hard to live with."