Curatorial Staff

The Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art

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David S. Rubin has been an active figure in the contemporary arts field for over thirty-five years. In September 2006 he assumed the position of The Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art. From 2000-2006, Rubin was Curator of Visual Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans; from 1994-99, he was Curator of Twentieth Century Art at Phoenix Art Museum; from 1990-94 he served as Associate Director/Chief Curator of Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art (now MOCA Cleveland); prior positions include Director of the Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, PA; Director of Exhibitions, San Francisco Art Institute and Adjunct Curator, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Director, Santa Monica College Art Gallery; Assistant Director, Galleries of the Claremont Colleges and Assistant Professor of Art History, Scripps College, Claremont, CA.

Since 1980, Rubin has been a member of the International Association of Art Critics. In 1996 he served as U.S. Commissioner for the Cuenca Bienal of Painting in Ecuador.  From 2001 - 2007, he was an international juror for the Florence Biennale. He is listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Art.  

Over the years, Rubin has organized numerous solo and thematic exhibitions. Solo projects have been devoted to Martha Alf, Willie Birch, Douglas Bourgeois, Petah Coyne, Jay DeFeo, David Halliday, Adad Hannah, Al Held, Daniel Lee, Donald Lipski, Christian Marclay, Ana Mendieta, Dennis Oppenheim, Martin Puryear, Vincent Valdez, Alison Saar and many others; group exhibitions include Cruciformed: Images of the Cross Since 1980; Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art; It’s Only Rock and Roll: Rock and Roll Currents in Contemporary Art; Chelsea Rising; Birdspace: A Post-Audubon Artists Aviary; The Culture of Queer: A Tribute to J.B. Harter; Playing with Time; Chocolate: A Photography Exhibition; Waterflow; and No Escape: Photographs of the Brothers Montiel Klint. His 2010 exhibition Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art since the 1960s was accompanied by a comprehensive best-selling book on the subject, co-published by the San Antonio Museum of Art and MIT Press.  

Rubin holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles and an M.A. in Art History from Harvard University.