Press Release
BFA Visual & Critical Studies presents Irwin Rubin: ‘60s Polychrome, an exhibition of painted wood constructions and collages by Irwin Rubin. Curated by Visual & Critical Studies and Art History faculty member Carmelle Safdie, the exhibition will be on view from Tuesday, October 1 through Thursday, October 24, at the Flatiron Project Space, 133 W 21 Street, New York, NY.
Irwin Rubin (1930-2006) was a Brooklyn-born artist and educator. Irwin Rubin: ‘60s Polychrome focuses on the painted woodwork and collages Rubin produced between 1960 and 1966. The exhibition includes his boxed constructions made up of cropped pegs and bisected rods, assembled into lollypop gardens, alien alphabets, and kaleidoscopic architectural structures atop which Rubin conducts planar explorations of color harmony and optical phenomenon. Contrasting these works in relief are intimate compositions made with cut paper, printed fabric, lace, and pressed leaves. Both the constructions and collages celebrate play, craft, material transformation, and movement, establishing practices that became foundational to Rubin’s pedagogical approach to Color Theory, and continue to inform Safdie’s VCS Vision & Color class that meets at SVA in the fall.
In addition to the historic works on view within the gallery, the exhibition includes Ben DuVall’s HTML/CSS Painting (after Rubin), 2024, on a monitor facing West 21st Street. In this digital painting, DuVall manipulates the limited shape vocabulary of web coding to construct complex geometries in dynamic color, drawing a connection between Rubin’s hand-built structures and our contemporary digital space. This durational work slowly animates in near-infinite sequences through the run of the show.
Irwin Rubin: ‘60s Polychrome marks the first time Rubin’s works are on public view since the 1960s, and will be accompanied by an exhibition catalog co-authored by Carmelle Safdie and Robert Wiesenberger. Exhibition and catalog design by Darling Green. Special thanks to the Rubin family. For more information visit the Irwin Rubin Archive at www.irwinrubin.com.
The Flatiron Project Space, created and founded by the Visual & Critical Studies department, is located on the ground floor of 133 West 21 Street. The gallery invites VCS students and guest curators, along with other departments at SVA, to realize curatorial projects that highlight our rapidly expanding visual culture. Shows are held monthly and include video, performance, painting and sculptural projects.
The gallery is open Monday through Sunday, 9 AM to 6 PM. It is fully accessible by wheelchair.