ART

Detail of Rubin drawing studio

As an artist, David S. Rubin is known for automatic drawing, a process of creating spontaneous imagery that was the subject of his graduate school research in the 1970s. Among his influences he includes Roberto Matta Echaurren, Lee Krasner, and Gordon Onslow-Ford, all of whom practiced automatism, as well as numerous contemporary artists with whom he worked as a curator. Rubin views his drawing practice as a means of spiritually connecting with the cosmos.

ARTIST RESUME

ARTWORK & EXHIBITIONS

Three-Person Exhibition: Seriously Playful, 2026

Also featuring sculpture by Joe Davidson and paintings by Scott Taylor

LAUNCH Gallery, Los Angeles

Artist Statement

I continue to practice automatic drawing—drawing spontaneously with no specific composition in mind—on a daily basis. As a graduate student in the 1970s, I conducted extensive research into the relationship between Surrealist automatism and the origins of Abstract Expressionism. At that time, I interviewed the Surrealist Gordon Onslow Ford, who limited his formal vocabulary to only lines, circles, and dots because he felt they were the fastest forms an artist can make and, thus, the most truly “automatic.” My recent automatic drawings, which use primarily lines and circles, incorporate a visual language of personal spiritual symbols: cellular forms that I call “pearls of wisdom,” candles, which represent blessings or prayers, DNA chains that signify continuity of humanity through the ages, and hybrids of chains and halos that represent all the angels and “do-gooders” of the world. I also favor a playful, uplifting aesthetic and thus named the recent series “Hope” because the symbols all signify aspects of hopefulness, something I believe can help us through difficult times.

David S. Rubin, 2026