Storytelling Rockford artist throws feelings onto canvas for first solo show

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Rosa Salinas Rubio set out to create photo-realistic works when she first put paint to canvas years ago.

“I was always wowed by people who painted like that, but I kept trying and something wasn’t connecting,” she said.

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The style, with its precise lines and fine details, didn’t match the emotion or the sometimes chaotic youth that now fuels the way she expresses herself through art.

“I found that I was trying to paint something so pretty, neat and real, but it was never my style,” Salinas Rubio said. “The reason I couldn’t paint that way was because it wasn’t who I was. Once I started throwing paint on the canvas and just letting everything out onto the canvas I was like, this is me, and it finally clicked.”

Now 43, Salinas Rubio has found her footing in both life and art. The artist, Spanish teacher and Rockford Area Music Industry award-winning musician is preparing to debut her first ever solo art show as part of Fall ArtScene.

Her exhibit, called Recuérdame, which translates to “remember me,” will be on display Friday and Saturday at Lucha Cantina, 1641 N. Alpine Road. It celebrates Hispanic culture with neoexpressionist portraits of iconic celebrities and loved ones who have died. She draws inspiration from artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Diego Rivera and Vincent Van Gogh.

Salinas Rubio’s work stands out for its textures and the storytelling details layered into the paint. For example, a piece called “Sacrificio Invaluable” contains the phrase “el precio por buscar mejor vida” — the price of seeking a better life — inside the stripes of an American flag. Another, called “Journey of the Rose Garden,” contains in its heavily textured paint the names of volunteers who kept the Sinnissippi Rose Garden in bloom during its century in existence.

“I really enjoy the storytelling in her work,” said Melissa Santillan, who had connected with Salinas Rubio through her face-painting business and then invited her to be part of a Dia de Los Muertos show at UW Health Sports Factory a year ago. “A lot of her work is really interpreted by feeling.”

Salinas Rubio has among her roughly dozen pieces at Lucha Cantina two portraits with graffiti elements of her grandparents. Each includes the year of death, and words embedded in the paint texture that tell the story of their personalities.

“Those paintings became so real to me it almost made me feel like I knew who her grandparents were and I never met them,” Santillan said.

Neil Bloom, who displayed Salinas Rubio’s work as part of a group exhibit at his downtown business Future Memory Media last year, said she is a storyteller in life and on the canvas.

Salinas Rubio’s “art not only tells a great story about different points in her life,” Bloom said. “When she shows her art it is really great how she is so engaging with anyone who spends time with her there. I think her work is absolutely gorgeous.”

Salinas Rubio grew up in what she described as a rough part of west Rockford, and said she was 13 years old when her house burned down after her parents divorced.

“I was more or less homeless,” she said. “I was hopping from school to school. I ended up living with my grandma, my cousin.”

She later dropped out of school after getting pregnant at age 16. She got married a year later, and she and Bobby Salinas have now been together for 26 years. They have five children.

“There’s pain, there’s trauma, there’s passion,” Salinas Rubio said of her work. “There’s all kinds of stuff that’s coming out of me. I feel like I’m throwing it all on canvas. I’m expressing what I’m feeling at the time.”

Salinas Rubio later returned to school, earning her high school equivalent diploma from Roosevelt Community Education Center. She then went to Rock Valley College, where she rediscovered painting in a class with mixed media artist Cheri Rittenhouse. She eventually earned her master’s degree from Concordia University.

She’s teaching Spanish in Durand now, but hopes to one day teach art much like Rittenhouse taught her.

“Don’t ever think it’s too late,” Salinas Rubio said. “I didn’t have an opportunity when I was younger because of all the stuff I went through, but now’s the time.”

Salinas Rubio said now is an ideal time to debut her first solo show because of the overwhelming support the community is showing for artists. She said she didn’t feel that same level of support at a young age.

“I feel the love of the community. Now is the time, if you’re scared, now is the time to come out because I think that there is so much love and support in the community,” she said. “I think people are starting to realize together is the best way.”

If you go | Recuérdame

When: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4 and Saturday, Oct. 5

Where: Lucha Cantina, 1641 N. Alpine Road, Rockford

See more: Rosa Salinas Rubio’s exhibit is one of about 35 across the city for Fall ArtScene.

See more locations and details HERE.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas