Rubin began working with paper collage in 1953. During his early artistic career he did extensive research into the archival properties of collage materials and adhesives, and published his studies in Arts magazine,[6] and in Bernard Chaet'sArtists at Work.[3] In the 1960s, Rubin made brightly colored, painted wood constructions.[7] He worked with pegs[8] and blocks[9] in low relief to explore color phenomena spatially, including the effects of primary colors reflected upon white surfaces.[2]
Rubin was represented by the Bertha Schaefer Gallery,[2] where he participated in several group exhibitions that focused on hybrid forms, featuring young artists working between painting and sculpture.[10] His work was also included in "New Directions" at Pace Gallery, a group show with construction and assemblage contributions by Jim Dine, Bernard Langlais, and Louise Nevelson.[9]
Artwork created in Rubin's Freehand Drawing course have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and reproduced in Education of an Architect: A Point of View, the MoMA exhibition catalog,[14] in Cynthia Dantzic's Design Dimensions: An Introduction to the Visual Surface (Prentice Hall, 1990)[15] and in Alexander Caragonne's The Texas Rangers: Notes from an Architectural Underground, (MIT Press, 1995).[4]
^ abc"New Talent USA: Painting chosen by Richard Brown Baker with Dorothy Gees Seckler". Art in America. 50 (1). New York, NY: 30. 1962.
^ abChaet, Bernard (1960). Artists at Work. Cambridge, MA: Webb Books. pp. 69–72.
^ abcdCaragonne, Alexander (1995). The Texas Rangers: Notes from an Architectural Underground. Cambridge, MA - London, England: MIT Press. pp. 2, 11, 51, 67, 174, 368. ISBN0-262-03218-X.
^ abcHejduk, John (1971). Education of an Architect: A Point of View(PDF). New York, NY: The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. pp. 35–45, 323 – via The Museum of Modern Art.
^Dantzic, Cynthia (1990). Design Dimensions: an Introduction to the Visual Surface. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. pp. 35, 58. ISBN978-0131999855.