Exhibition Information

			Patrick Rubinstein is a French artist born in Paris in 1960. He belongs to the Op Art and Kinetic Arts movement. Patrick Rubinstein lives and works in Paris.

Childhood and family 1960-1976

 He also owes a lot to his family for his artistic education. Indeed, his mother is passionate about the 7th art. His father is an amateur painter and art collector. It was he who introduced him to the techniques of optical and kinetic arts which were very popular in the late 1970s.

It was also during this period that Patrick Rubinstein began to visit Parisian museums and galleries to admire in particular the works of Soto, Warhol, Diez, Vasarely, Lichtenstein, Basquiat, but also the great masters of the 20th century.

The first optical works 1977-1981

Fascinated by Op Art and Kineticism, it was in 1977 that he created his first optical works. He is particularly interested in the work of Yacov Agam, with his accordion optical process. If he is inspired by technique, Patrick Rubinstein separates himself from it in aesthetics, preferring figuration to geometric abstraction.

The 18-year-old Patrick Rubinstein is interested in the fusion of faces. He uses two portraits of members of the same family to discover their commonalities and singularities.

The world of fashion 1981 to 2006,

A creative curiosity drives him into the world of fashion, another of his passions. He will spend a large part of his career creating collections, using color. This work requires him to continually renew himself. Patrick Rubinstein is not considering becoming a professional artist at this stage. However, this is a period he considers part of his artistic training. He continues to create works by seeking technical solutions allowing him to refine the precision of kinetics and optical illusions, in particular retinal persistence.

A constructivist inspiration in his first optical and kinetic works 2007-2009.

2007 is a pivotal year; Patrick Rubinstein turns the page on fashion to become an artist. His early research was influenced by photographers of the Russian Constructivism. He uses the repetitions of sober black and white architecture, to mix them with messages.

Creation of the Kinetic Pop Art concept – 2009 to present

The concept lies in the fusion of Op Art techniques and Pop art aesthetics. Resolutely Pop and colorful, the works are both evocative of a positive spirit and a desire to transmit universal messages. The artist revisits the universe of his youth by tapping into the cinematographic iconography and Pop-Rock culture of the 60s and 70s.

This concept was positively received by the galleries. At the same time, the artist collaborates on projects: – Alcazar –

Innovation in optical effects – 2016

Patrick Rubinstein incorporates metal foils in these works. The use of these materials is an important discovery in the creation of new optical effects. This observation is made by the artist through the observation of Pierre Soulages works. Indeed, the change in perception no longer occurs only through movement, but also through the variation and orientation of natural light.

A return to the simplicity of the founders of Op Art – 2017 to the present day.

This innovation opens up new fields of research for the artist.

Patrick Rubinstein returns to the simple obviousness of the pioneers of Op Art. Without renouncing the concept of Kinetic Pop Art, he directs his creation towards a poetic abstraction, using movement, space and geometry as the driving force behind his work. The palette becomes monochrome and contrasts with the massive use of metallic leaves (gold, aluminum, copper), thus creating optical effects never seen before in Op art. The light becomes a complement of the movement in the change of perception of the works.

Birth of the concept of exception – 2018

It was during a solo exhibition in Paris in 2018 that Patrick Rubinstein showed his exceptional works.

The Galerie Montmartre in Paris will be the first to show this work in 2018 for its personal exhibition Exception. The choice of name is deliberately ambivalent, playing both on the double meaning of the term “exception”.

This series of works is a radical break in the language of the artist

The Momentum Gallery in Knokke-le-Zout (B) held a solo exhibition of this series in 2019. On this occasion, the artist showed an evolution in his compositions, working mainly on movement and depth.

(source=olivia park gallery)