Artist Statement

April 2026​

My recent paintings explore concepts of rhythm and time, expressing the structural logic of classic jazz composition and recording time in process-driven abstract paintings. Working with acrylic paint, acrylic ink, and oil stick, I begin each work by mapping musical rhythms into poured paint drawings, establishing an underlying structure and opening a space for improvisation.

 

Time is central to both my process and my material language. Through layering and reworking, the painted surface accumulates history, becoming a visual record of gesture, decision, and duration where sound, motion, and form are inseparable.

Working with both control and chance, liquid paint is guided to flow, pool, and coalesce into interlaced forms that carry rhythmic intention and spontaneous energy. These layered, interlaced configurations function as metaphors for human connection both in the their density and the forces shaping them.

 

Rooted in the traditions of Abstract Expressionism and Process Abstraction, I focus on the material richness of my colors and forms to become the primary carriers of meaning. Each painting seeks to have a rhythmic energy while condensing the past and suspending the present in a distinctive visual world that invites and rewards close viewing.

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Biography

Cheryl Rubin is an artist living and working in New York City with a studio in NoMad. Her expressive abstract acrylic paintings explore concepts of rhythm and time, condensing the past and suspending the present in distinctive visual worlds that invites and rewards close viewing.

Born in Philadelphia, she grew up in a house with Museum of Modern Art exhibition catalogues from the 1950's and 60's, as well as a floor to ceiling wall mural of the 1928 Stuart Davis painting, "Place Pasdeloup", meticulously copied by her father and brother from a postcard, inspiring her lifelong passion to be an artist. After studying painting, drawing and sculpture at both Kansas City Art Institute and Philadelphia's University of the Arts, Rubin graduated with a BFA in Sculpture. Moving to New York City in 1979 she continued to create both 2D and 3D art while raising a daughter with her husband, musician and author Dave Rubin, and working as a brand management executive for Warner Discovery’s DC Entertainment.  For the past 10 years, Cheryl has devoted herself to building her art portfolio and has a studio in the NoMad district of New York City.  Her work has been placed in private collections throughout the United States and Europe.​​

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Selected Exhibitions

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2026: SOLO SHOW, The Jazz Gallery, NYC, May 6, 2026-August 2026

2025: SOLO SHOW, 230 Fifth Ave., NYC November 2025 - October 2026

Solo Show, Open Studio: February 2025

Loy Luo Space, Tribeca, NYC., BLUE Group Show, September 17-26, 2024

Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa., Converge Benefit Exhibition, Juried Group Show (June 11- August 3, 2024)

Solo Show, Open Studio: October 2022

The Marciano Law Firm, Hoboken, NJ, Solo Show (May 1, 2023 - June 15, 2023)

DeFrate & Paavola, Solo Show, Ed Sullivan Office Theatre Building, NYC (February 5, 2020 – May 2022)

Primavera, One Brooklyn Bridge Park Juried Group Show (April 1 – June 18, 2021)

First Street Gallery, 9 for 19 Juried Group Show, Chelsea, NY (January 2021)

ArtspeakCollective.org Group Show, “Art in the Aftermath” online exhibition (December 2020) 

Art Students League of NY, Merit Winners Exhibition (September 2020 – October 2020)

Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC, 1stdibs.com (November 2020 - present)

Goddard Riverside Community Center Group Show, NYC (March 2020)

Manhattan Borough President’s Office Juried Group Show (July- September 2018)

Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery Group Shows, 57th St., NYC (2018/2019/2020)

Spring Studio, NYC, Solo Show – Recent Drawings & Collages (March 2015)

Spring Studio, NYC, Group Shows (2010-2015)

Philadelphia Bicentennial Art Exhibition Juried Group Show (1976)

Global Art Students Exposition Juried Group Show (representing USA), Glasgow, Scotland (1974)

 

Selected Awards

Phyllis Harriman Gallery 57th St., NYC Honorable Mention (2020)

Art Students League Peter Helk Award (2019)

 

Education

Kansas City Art Institute/Philadelphia College of Art BFA (1977)

The Art Students League (2015-2020)

Studied with Rafael Ferrer, Ronnie Landfield, Francine Tint

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Professional Career

President, Cheryl Rubin Group/Powerhouse Branding (2011-2015)

Senior Vice President, Brand Management Warner Discovery/DC Entertainment (1987-2010)

Marketing Manager, Annual Events, Macy’s New York (1981-1986)

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