Juan Uslé: Viento Sur: Paris, France
Past exhibition
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The light, relief and climate of his native Cantabria are ever present in Juan Uslé's paintings. His paintings are like large pages of colourful writing, evoking abstract landscapes. In small, jerky strokes, he creates bands of shimmering, vibrant colours that can evoke reflections on water, shades in the sky or the effect of the wind rippling on green hills.
The "Viento Sur" (the south wind) is a well-known wind in Santander. Its warm air rushes down the mountain, sometimes in very violent gusts, right into the bay. Its influence on men and women is mythical. Nicknamed "viento loco" (the crazy wind), it is said to cause mood swings, headaches, respiratory illnesses, nervous breakdowns etc. In his work, Juan Uslé focuses on the change in perception he brings to bear on distances, volumes, light and landscape. When the south wind blows, the artist likes to climb up into the mountains to observe and listen to the sea. He has always been sensitive to this phenomenon, whose influence can be seen in his painting. In 1993, he told Barry Schwabsky: "You're in the north where the wind is normally cold, but when it gets hot your vision of space goes crazy. That's why I don't want to freeze everything. I would like viewers to work a little too, to play with the elements of the painting and make their own films" (interview published in "Tema Celeste" in 1993, reprinted in "La peinture dans son temps", a collection of interviews with the artist published by Galerie Lelong & Co. in 2021).
Born in Santander, Spain in 1954, the artist currently divides his time between Saro in Cantabria (Spain) and New York, where he settled over 30 years ago. First gaining widespread attention at Documenta in Cassel (1992), awarded the Velázquez Prize (2002) and featured at the Venice Biennale (2005), he regularly exhibits in Berlin, London, Naples, New York, Madrid and Paris. His work can be found in many museums in Europe (Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris; Tate Modern, London; Irish Museum, Dublin; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Reina Sofía, Madrid; Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart and Munich, etc.) and in the United States. In 2014, a major exhibition featuring the Soñe que revelabas series was held at the Kunstmuseum in Bonn and the CGAC in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Recent exhibitions include Eye and Landscape at the Bombas Gens art centre in Valencia (Spain). In 2020, Juan Uslé won the Florence and Daniel Guerlain Foundation Contemporary Drawing Prize in Paris.