“I am delighted by color, form, texture and the serendipitous juxtaposition of those elements and the visual treats they present,” Dubin says.
Despite a discouraging critique from her photography professor “many, many years ago,” Dubin is also an avid photographer, and is showcasing her “Colors of Mexico” series at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center (85 Throckmorton) throughout April with a wine reception on April 5 (6–8pm) as part of the Mill Valley Arts Commission‘s First Tuesday Artwalk.
Dubin’s photos are frequently close-ups of walls, sidewalks, cobblestones and other mundane details of the streets of the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, which Dubin first visited in 1986 and has returned to more than a dozen times since then.
“I feel like an archaeologist gathering treasures…and when I lay them out before me I have a sense of the place I have been,” says the UCLA grad. “And although things have certainly changed in (Guanajuato’s) social culture – the city remains very much the same in its physical appearance, with its winding alleyways, colorful buildings, mysterious tunnels.”
“When viewed from afar, the city to me seems gritty, untamed, unpredictable,” she adds. “There is a certain ‘buzz’ to Guanajuato, a vibrancy, a place in constant motion. Yet, when I stop to see it up close – a wall bursting with color, an intersection of lines and shapes, an unexpected moment of a bright pink fleeting across a clashing red wall – I see nothing but its beauty. I see the exuberance of the Guanajuatenses, the openness, the laughter, the richness of the community, in each color. I see it’s chaotic nature in its irregular angles where nothing seems quite straight. Crumbling walls and grand edifices speak of a history to be learned and remembered. Illuminated by a bright unwavering sunlit sky, Guanajuato is both a place to be taken seriously and yet not seriously. I hope to capture in my photographs that moment that makes me pause and reflect on its nature.”
Dubin has shown her work at venues all over town, including The Image Flow, Mill Valley Library and O’Hanlon Center for the Arts.
The 411: Rhonda Dubin exhibits her “Colors of Mexico” photos at the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, 85 Throckmorton Avenue, throughout April. The First Tuesday Artwalk receptions are Tuesday, April 5, 6–8pm. First Tuesday Artwalk Guide with venues and a map.