Background
Stabin was born in Brooklyn. His mother Florence was a piano teacher in Brooklyn.
Stabin was born in Brooklyn. His mother Florence was a piano teacher in Brooklyn.
He also attended the High School of Art and Design from which he graduated in 1972. He then studied at Los Angeles" Art Center College of Design before continuing his education at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
He is noted for his work in education and has used his book Daedal Doodle as a teaching tool in several schools, an endeavor sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Stabin began his formal education as an artist at the Art Students League of New York attending summers from age 13 to 17. Stabin began his career as an illustrator.
He worked for numerous different publications including Newsweek, The New York Times, Time Magazine and Rolling Stone as well as designing book covers for publishers Penguin Books, Random House and others
Some of his most well-known work as an illustrator includes painting nine stamps for the United States Postal Service, the cover for KISS" album Unmasked, and a mural for Radio Corporation of America/BMG’s headquarters. Stamps
The United States Postal Service has hired Stabin to design a number of stamps.
He created a Henry Mancini stamp in 2003 which led to him being hired again in 2005 this time to create four of the American scientists series stamps: physicist Richard Feynman, thermodynamicist Willard Gibbs, geneticist Barbara McClintock and mathematician John von Neumann. He was again hired by the United States Postal Service in 2008 and created the artwork for stamps depicting four more American scientists—theoretical physicist John Bardeen, biochemist Gerty Cori, astronomer Edwin Hubble and chemist Linus Pauling.
At age 44 Stabin was diagnosed with cancer and told he had a 50% chance of survival.
In the years since his recovery Stabin has moved from illustration to focus on his own work. The Turtle Series
Stabin has created a number of paintings entitled The Turtle Series which includes Keep Your Eye on the Ball, Fish Ferris Wheel, and his most recent work, Hatchlings. Daedal Doodle
Stabin has also authored a book called Daedal Doodle which features illustrations and alliterations created by the artist.
This work, published in 2011, has been used by Stabin as a teaching tool in a number of schools.
Susan Orlean of the The New Yorker described it as "original and sly", while Leonard Lopate of Way of New York City Radio called it, "a visual stunner with delightful definitions". National Public Radio commentator Jeremy Siegel said that looking at the book reminded him of the first time he saw the work of Medical Corps Escher." A monthly version of ""Daedal Doodle is published in ICON under the title "Alliteration of the Month".
Stabin Morykin Building
Now called the Stabin Morykin Building, it includes the Victor Stabin Gallery, an art workshop space, and Flow, a farm-to-table restaurant. The galleries currently house the work of Stabin as well as that of his students.