The Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts Appoints Andres Payan Estrada as Director
Joined by John Leo De Frank as Assistant Director
EL PASO, Texas (Sept. 22, 2026) – 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.
A native of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Payan Estrada first joined the Rubin Center in 2008 as a gallery intern while an undergraduate at UTEP, where he earned bachelor’s 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.
“As a student, the Rubin Center was the first place where I learned what a career in contemporary art could be,” said Payan Estrada. “The 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.”
At Craft Contemporary, Payan Estrada co-created the museum’s Clay Biennial and organized exhibitions including The Body, The Object, The Other. He curated Ecos Paralelos – Parallel Echoes, artist Haydee Alonso’s first monographic exhibition at Azul Arena in Ciudad Juárez, and Total Collapse: Clay in the Contemporary Past with the Arizona State University Art Museum. He maintains a studio practice in ceramics and textiles.
Joining him as Assistant Director is John Leo De Frank, who previously served as the Rubin Center’s Program Manager and a lecturer in UTEP’s Humanities Program.
“The Rubin Center has been a bridge connecting local, regional, and international communities through art and programming,” De Frank said. “In appreciation of that tradition, Andres and I hope to further the collaborations the Rubin Center team has cultivated for years. I’m eager, inspired and humbly challenged to continue the work and wonder the Rubin Center has developed on the frontera and beyond.”
Payan Estrada’s curatorial approach emphasizes work emerging from lived experience. Costuras Territoriales, the fall’s first exhibition, brings together Margarita Cabrera, Teresa Margolles, Tania Candiani, Tania Aguiñiga 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 Juárez 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.
“The Rubin Center’s history has always been shaped by this region and by the artists, students, and relationships that exist across the border,” Payan Estrada said. “Our greatest strength comes from continuing to build those relationships while creating opportunities for artists to engage this place in thoughtful and unexpected ways.”
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.
Last Updated on September 22, 2026 at 12:00 AM | Originally published September 22, 2026
By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications
