After graduating, he worked as a librarian and bibliographer with his alma mater, where he encountered the catalog cards that would inspire his "notecard poems".

In the 1970s and 1980s, Rubinstein became a major writer in the underground Soviet literary scene, particularly for his association with Moscow Conceptualism.

[2] Rubinstein was hit by a car in Moscow on 8 January 2024,[4] and died of his injuries six days later at the age of 76.

[9] Much of the writing itself is a "quasi-quotation", a quotation that appears to be from everyday life, but is instead carefully constructed with a specific style and meter.

Rubinstein himself stated that "Moscow conceptualism unites the inner feeling that the world is divided, all the texts are written, the paintings are drawn.