Teresa Rubio

“In the silence there is Fullness
And in the Fullness there is Nothingness
And in the Nothingness there are all Things”
Said of the Search for Inner Silence in a seventeenth-century Quaker meeting for worship by an unknown speaker.

It is a great pleasure to present an exhibition of art by the Mexican artist Teresa Rubio in Grey College, Durham University. Most artists attempt to depict images of the external world around them as they see it. Teresa Rubio is engaged in the very difficult task of attempting to paint not only her outer life journey but also her inner psychological and spiritual search. This is an increasingly important quest for us all, living as we do in an ever more noisy and disturbing electronic world where images, words and external stimuli constantly bombard us with their invasive and addictive power.

To endeavour to paint images of such an abstract quest as Inner Silence is not an easy task but a very commendable one. it is courageous to “lay one’s soul bare” in this way for it involves the naked task of exposing the sensitive inner core of the self in an adventurous and profound way. It is an “experiment in depth” and therefore a perilous journey.

In my view Teresa Rubio has successfully met such a daunting challenge and the outcome is to be found in her contemplative paintings of great power and gentle beauty. In colour, tone, composition and form her images reveal great artistic skill and aesthetic pleasure. These silent images speak a language of their own but nevertheless one that can be shared.

The pictures, with their peaceful tranquillity have a jewel-like quality. Both the external and inner worlds perceived are imaginatively expressed in sharp focus whilst at the same time conveying a mystical appreciation of reality. There is a stillness and yet a creative dynamic tension in her work.

I am very grateful to Teresa Rubio for sharing the riches she has discovered in her search for inner silence and I hope the exhibition is seen and enjoyed by many.

Henry Dyson, Keeper of Fine Art in Durham University and Fellow of Grey College, June 2013