Rabo Karabekian

However, although capable of incredible photorealism, his teacher generally felt his work had no soul (that is, it failed to invoke an emotional response in the viewer).

[5] As a young man, he joined the Army to serve in World War II and because of his artistic skills was assigned to a camouflage unit.

However, Rabo began neglecting his family to drink at bars with other expressionist artists, and Dorothy eventually leaves him and takes their sons with her.

[8] Karabekian was able to make some money selling paintings he had bought from civilians during the war and, unlike his friends, was able to support himself while pursuing his art.

Rejecting his photorealistic roots, his works tended to be abstract, consisting of a revolutionary house paint called Sateen Dura-Luxe on canvas as the background, topped with colored tape.

Unfortunately, his choice of materials was a poor one - the not-so-revolutionary Sateen Dura-Luxe and tape eventually fell off, essentially destroying all of his work over time.

Karabekian defends the painting at the end of Vonnegut's 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions as a representation of the only pristine element of humanity: "their awareness".

Karabekian further describes his views in Bluebeard as seeing every person as a thin and bright neon tube representing their soul and their awareness.

Eventually, after the insistence of Circe Berman, Karabekian reveals that inside the barn is his last painting, named "Now It's the Women's Turn," which he intended to be shown after his death.

David Rampton notes that the novel ends with Karabekian turning his mansion into "a museum that serves as a commentary on the art history that the novel explores".