He has had over 30 solo exhibitions of his work as well as participated in literally hundreds of group shows over a period of 30 years. His works are in the collections of many renowned museums and colleges including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Modern Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Perhaps his most intimate portraits are of his tiny newborn son, Maxwell, born at two pounds, three ounces and suffering from a terrible lung disease. Abeles followed his son's struggle for life, attached to the tubes and sensors of his incubator, in a famous series of drawings - the Max Drawings. The only mediating factors are Abeles's skill as a draftsman and his persistent belief in the affirmative importance of his craft.
Abeles can draw with the best.
It is not surprising that pastels are his preferred medium. They emphasize drawing, and the love of drawing is the foundation of his art. Then there is his humanism. If Isaac Babel had been a painter this is what it would look like. It's people that interest Abeles.