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<\/p>\nJoined by John Leo De Frank as Assistant Director <\/p>\n
EL PASO, Texas (Sept. 22, 2026) \u2013 The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at The University of Texas at El Paso has appointed Andres Payan Estrada as Director and Chief Curator, effective August 1, 2026. He succeeds Kerry Doyle, who led the University art center for nearly two decades. \n<\/p>\n
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John Leo De Frank (left), assistant director of the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at The University of Texas at El Paso, and Andres Payan Estrada (right), the center\u2019s director, make adjustments to a piece in the center\u2019s latest exhibition, Costuras Territoriales. Payan Estrada and De Frank were both appointed to their roles at the Rubin Center in summer 2026. \n<\/p>\n
A native of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico, Payan Estrada first joined the Rubin Center in 2008 as a gallery intern while an undergraduate at UTEP, where he earned bachelor\u2019s degrees in graphic design and ceramics. He completed an MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in 2014, then spent a decade at Craft Contemporary in Los Angeles in curatorial and creative leadership roles. He returned to the Rubin Center in 2025 as Senior Curator.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a student, the Rubin Center was the first place where I learned what a career in contemporary art could be,\u201d said Payan Estrada. \u201cThe Rubin has an extraordinary foundation built by former directors, artists, student interns and the communities who shaped it. My goal is to continue building on that legacy while ensuring the Rubin maintains its commitment to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Craft Contemporary, Payan Estrada co-created the museum\u2019s Clay Biennial and organized exhibitions including The Body, The Object, The Other. He curated Ecos Paralelos \u2013 Parallel Echoes, artist Haydee Alonso\u2019s first monographic exhibition at Azul Arena in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, and Total Collapse: Clay in the Contemporary Past with the Arizona State University Art Museum. He maintains a studio practice in ceramics and textiles.<\/p>\n
Joining him as Assistant Director is John Leo De Frank, who previously served as the Rubin Center\u2019s Program Manager and a lecturer in UTEP\u2019s Humanities Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rubin Center has been a bridge connecting local, regional, and international communities through art and programming,\u201d De Frank said. \u201cIn appreciation of that tradition, Andres and I hope to further the collaborations the Rubin Center team has cultivated for years. I\u2019m eager, inspired and humbly challenged to continue the work and wonder the Rubin Center has developed on the frontera and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Payan Estrada\u2019s curatorial approach emphasizes work emerging from lived experience. Costuras Territoriales, the fall\u2019s first exhibition, brings together Margarita Cabrera, Teresa Margolles, Tania Candiani, Tania Agui\u00f1iga and Olga Guerra to examine textiles as sites of labor, memory and cultural transmission. From November 18-22, 2026, the Rubin Center will play a leading role in SUTURA, a new binational art initiative with partners across Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez and El Paso. In early 2027, the center presents tierra, produced with Craft Contemporary, expanding conversations around clay into questions of land, ecology and belonging.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rubin Center\u2019s history has always been shaped by this region and by the artists, students, and relationships that exist across the border,\u201d Payan Estrada said. \u201cOur greatest strength comes from continuing to build those relationships while creating opportunities for artists to engage this place in thoughtful and unexpected ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at UTEP is a contemporary art institution presenting exhibitions, commissions, research and public programs that aim to foster dialogue across disciplines and communities. It also serves as a training ground for a new generation of creative practitioners.<\/p>\n
Last Updated on September 22, 2026 at 12:00 AM | Originally published September 22, 2026<\/p>\n
By MC Staff
\n UTEP Marketing and Communications
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