Teresa J. Cuevas is a visual artist whose work explores the relationship between matter, nature, and light, conveying a profound sense of calm and inner connection. Each piece is an invitation to contemplation and silence.
How did your relationship with art begin?
“My sensitivity started very early, from childhood. I believe it was my mother who taught me how to look: to observe nature, its rhythms, its details, how it speaks without speaking.
At 18, I discovered Spanish post-war abstract art — the whole Cuenca group — during my architecture degree. That opened up a new language for me: abstraction. Since then, I haven’t stopped being fascinated by all its forms of expression and by the whole history that has led human beings to communicate with gestures that can come from so deep in the soul.”
In your work, matter, nature, and light are essential. What role does each one play in your creative process?
“Nature is my great teacher; I learn everything from it.
Matter is the bridge that allows me to get close to that nature, a physical means to access something essential. And light is my aspiration (I believe you can sense it in each piece): an inner destination. In light I find calm, silence, and a kind of clarity that I’m always seeking.”
Your works transmit calm and balance. What do you hope someone feels when looking at them?
“Thank you! That is exactly what I aim for … for people to find a space of peace. For whoever looks to be able to pause for a moment, breathe, feel serenity. That my works invite one to enter oneself, to embrace a moment of silence and truth.”
Is there any artist, era, or movement that has especially influenced how you create?
“I have been deeply influenced by the group of post-war artists gathered in Cuenca by Zóbel, with their very Spanish informalist abstraction, so necessary to illuminate a dark time.
Zóbel, in his most luminous facet, has been a guide in technique and poetics. Also Goya, Velázquez, Álvaro Aalto, Álvaro Siza, and thinkers like Byung-Chul Han, Pablo d’Ors… and literature in general, which helps me so much to know myself …
I think there are many references, and each one of them nourishes, in its own way, my way of seeing.”
What does the concept of “slow” mean to you? Both slow art and slow fashion.
“To me, slowness is the only true way to pay attention. The real luxury today is precisely that: full attention, deep care for detail, a human and honest craftsmanship, with its little imperfections that even slowness cannot — and does not want to — avoid.
I like things made with history, touched by a hand, one by one. I think this applies to both art and fashion …”
Which place in the world would you love to explore wearing your “friulanas”?
“I’m dying to go to Milan with my husband for a few quiet days. He travels there a lot for work, and he always tells me wonderful things!”
How would you design your perfect Cayumas?
“Sober, very comfortable, and if possible, easy to clean since my shoes always have a little splash of paint! Or … would I fill them with paint splashes??? I would love that too …
I move around a lot during the day, and I like to go from the studio to an event being simple and comfortable, yet elegant.”
