Thomas Block Rubnitz (April 2, 1956 – August 12, 1992) was an American painter, video artist and art collector. He was a part of the New York City drag world of the late 1980s, and he was once described as "an exuberant ethnographer of the East Village queer scene."

Video art Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...

Rubnitz was a pioneer of video art and his films were inspired by pop culture and Las Vegas-style shows. A number of his works featured RuPaul and members of

The B-52s The B-52's, also styled as The B-52s, are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards, synth bass), Cindy Wilson (vocals, pe ...

. He also worked closely with East Village-associated artists like Club 57 founder

Ann Magnuson Ann Magnuson (born January 4, 1956) is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by ''The New York Times'' in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as Lil ...

David Wojnarowicz David Michael Wojnarowicz ( (September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992) was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and AIDS activist prominent in the East Village art scene. He incorp ...

Lady Bunny Lady Bunny, originally known as "Bunny Hickory Dickory Dock" (born Jon Ingle, August 13, 1962), is an American drag queen, nightclub DJ, actor, comedian, and event organizer. She is the founder of the annual Wigstock event, as well as an occasion ...

, Hapi Phace, and

John Sex John McLoughlin (April 8, 1956 – October 24, 1990), better known by the stage name John Sex, was an American cabaret singer and performance artist in New York City from the late 1970s until his death in late 1990. Early life Sex was born on ...

. He also appears in the B-52s music video

Love Shack "Love Shack" is a song by American new wave band the B-52's from their fifth studio album, ''Cosmic Thing'' (1989). It was released on June 20, 1989, and was produced by Don Was. The song was a comeback for the band following their decline in p ...

. He was also close with the actress, singer and nightclub owner

. Collaborating with The B-52s, Rubnitz produce a "public service announcement" for the Art Against AIDS organization's "Summer of Love" project in 1987. The work visually referenced the cover of '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

tableau vivant A (; often shortened to ; plural: ), French language, French for "living picture", is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and ...

form, featuring the B-52s,

Willi Ninja William Roscoe Leake (April 12, 1961 – September 2, 2006), better known as Willi Ninja, was an American dancer and choreographer best known for his appearance in the documentary film ''Paris Is Burning (film), Paris Is Burning''.Juan Battle ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Nam Jun Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...

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David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

, and others. His works also include "Strawberry Shortcut" and "Pickle Surprise." Rubnitz has said of his art, “I wanted to make things beautiful, funny and positive—escapes that you could just get into and laugh through. That was really important to me.”

Personal life

Rubnitz was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1956. He graduated from

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school, with its main campus for sophomores through seniors located in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, and a campus in Northfield, Illinoi ...

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,316 as of 2019. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of household income. It was the second- ...

, and then attended the

Kansas City Art Institute The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private art school in Kansas City, Missouri. The college was founded in 1885 and is an accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and Higher Learning Commission. It has approxi ...

in Missouri, where he earned a B.F.A. Rubnitz later moved to New York City, where he worked at the

Phyllis Kind Phyllis Barbara Kind ( Cobin; 1933–2018) was an American art dealer active in Chicago and New York. She promoted the work of the Chicago Imagists and outsider artists. Early life and family Phyllis Kind was born Phyllis Barbara Cobin in The B ...

Gallery in SoHo, known for showcasing

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...

and Chicago-based artists. Rubnitz was openly gay and worked through art to raise awareness of

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

and the need for a cure. He died of an AIDS-related illness in August 1992, at the age of 36.

References

External links

Tom Rubnitz
in th
Video Data Bank
*
UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation present ''Pickle Surprise! The Eyes of Tom Rubnitz''

* 1956 births 1992 deaths Artists from Chicago American video artists Nightlife in New York City AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) American drag queens 20th-century LGBT people {{US-artist-stub