Juan Uslé
24 May - 24 Jun 2012
JUAN USLÉ
High Noon
24 May - 24 June 2012
The Gallery Soledad Lorenzo is pleased to present artist Juan Uslé High Noon solo Exhibition, which will be held next Thursday, May 24.
Juan Uslé was born in Cantabria, Spain, in 1954 and has lived in New York since 1987. This exhibition is composed of 15 paintings in whole that belong to three of his several pictorial groups: Soñé que revelabas (3), Nemaste (8) and Rizomas-Manthis (4). These paintings were finished between 2010 and 2012.
High Noon is his solo exhibition ‘’number 10’’, and will be displayed at our space in Orfila 5, Madrid. And as he states:
“This exhibition means something special to me, as it gives end to a cycle. That is why I have conceived it out of all speculations, in homage. I had never shown here as many large formats as now.”
Juan Uslé is internationally known as one of the most singular representatives of the “New Abstraction”. He has never ceased in his aim to obtain new possibilities and paradigms in painting: with great intensity, irony and courage. He does it as well in the paintings that we will be showing at the exhibition, from really different premises and time periods:
On the one hand, there are his big dark paintings from “Soñé que revelabas”. They conjure in us the idea of conscious repetitiveness and they do it with obsessive monastic insistence. They also cause a sensation of emptiness, which seems to be the leitmotiv of these works. “I start them as an exercise, as a prayer, as something doubtful but coordinated. I try to follow my pulse, with no other imagery pretensions, just feeling the heartbeat and letting it go until the blood pumps and the brushstrokes come into action, which are faltering, and, depending on the duration, consecutive and organized. Brushstrokes become lines that get to be definite according to the rhythm and the speed of the pulse.”
Quoting Guillermo Solana: “Uslé has constructed an Anechoic chamber of his own, where to listen to silence of painting” ... He responds to his necessity to remove everything, to reach “amnesia”, as Uslé states. These paintings seem to be done in a state of somnambulism or hypnotic trance.”
On the other hand, the small works, which present equal formats but totally different soul and syntax. They belong to the group denominated by Uslé “Nemaste”. These works reflect their will of being totally different among them. Uslé tends to be loyal to two intentions. He has the desire of opening language’s range and extending the possibilities of painting and he holds a major respect for every single stage of difference, that very specific idiosyncrasy in each of his works, that idiosyncrasy creating a unique language: ‘’Learning to listen’’.
He seems to whisper, “We are alone” from the heart of some of these works. That is the same voice of Nemo, another “alter ego” for Uslé. Nemo has in many times usurped his position, in others, has helped him to keep better distances.
The most complex spaces are left for the final part. They are rhizomatic and schemed from an inner conflict. Thereby, the works belonging to “Manthis”, -exhibited in the first room-, appear as a labyrinth in constant movement. The colourful motif of the background possesses an apparent architectural solidity, but all of a sudden, it turns into a membrane, after being twisted and flooded with foreign voices, with syntax beyond the initial thoughts. New areas, fragments, forms and synthetic elements appear in our eyes via this complicated symbiosis. These symbolic elements run through multiplied spaces and seem to decisively make their final way to some swirling place, appointment or meeting, to a catalyst for new fusions and escapes.
“High Noon” also gives name to one of his works. It was exhibited during 1992-93 in Soledad Lorenzo and was part of his second exhibition at the gallery.
We can see the inconsolable image of a silhouetted man, sitting on a rock under a huge silhouetted tree. He gives the impression of keeping calm; he is maybe playing a mouth organ, or rolling a cigarette, maybe talking on a mobile phone. We do not only recognise the opening image of the film that gives name to this exhibition, but also the silence, the quietness and emptiness are the same. They approach us in the same time of the paintings, especially those belonging to “Sóné que revelabas”. That is what we always expect to find in our endeavours, both in theory and praxis, in life and loneliness.
Juan Uslé (Santander, 1954) is one of the big names in Spanish Painting within the international scene. During his outstanding career, he has participated in some prestigious gatherings such as: Documenta in Kasel, Biennale of Venezia, Biennale of Sao Paulo, and Biennale of Istanbul.
His work is already part of the most prestigious private and public art collections:
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Artium-Museo de Bellas Artes de álava, Vitoria; Centre Pompidou. Musée National d'Art Moderne. Paris; Belgacom Collection, Brussels; Colección Arte Contemporáneo Fundación «La Caixa», Barcelona; European Central Bank Collection; Peter Norton Family Collection, California; Saatchi Collection, London; FNAC, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Ministère de Culture, Paris; Fundación AENA. Colección de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid; Fundación Banco de España, Madrid; Marugame Hirai Museum, Japan; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Tate Modern, London. SMAK, Stedelïjk Museum Voor Actuele Kunst, Gante.
In the near future, his work will be shown in Paris, Los Angeles, London, Naples and New York. Kunstmuseum is also organising a wide display of the dark paintings from “Soñé que revelabas” (February 26 – June 1, 2014). The Director of the centre, Professor Dr. Stephan Berg, will curate the exhibition. Similarly, Raimund Stecker, Director of Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, will be developing an exhibition of the works belonging to “Nemaste”, to be held in Autumn 2014.
*“High Noon”, is also the title for one of Juan Uslé’s paintings from 1992-93 exhibited at this same space in his 2nd show at Soledad Lorenzo in 1993
High Noon
24 May - 24 June 2012
The Gallery Soledad Lorenzo is pleased to present artist Juan Uslé High Noon solo Exhibition, which will be held next Thursday, May 24.
Juan Uslé was born in Cantabria, Spain, in 1954 and has lived in New York since 1987. This exhibition is composed of 15 paintings in whole that belong to three of his several pictorial groups: Soñé que revelabas (3), Nemaste (8) and Rizomas-Manthis (4). These paintings were finished between 2010 and 2012.
High Noon is his solo exhibition ‘’number 10’’, and will be displayed at our space in Orfila 5, Madrid. And as he states:
“This exhibition means something special to me, as it gives end to a cycle. That is why I have conceived it out of all speculations, in homage. I had never shown here as many large formats as now.”
Juan Uslé is internationally known as one of the most singular representatives of the “New Abstraction”. He has never ceased in his aim to obtain new possibilities and paradigms in painting: with great intensity, irony and courage. He does it as well in the paintings that we will be showing at the exhibition, from really different premises and time periods:
On the one hand, there are his big dark paintings from “Soñé que revelabas”. They conjure in us the idea of conscious repetitiveness and they do it with obsessive monastic insistence. They also cause a sensation of emptiness, which seems to be the leitmotiv of these works. “I start them as an exercise, as a prayer, as something doubtful but coordinated. I try to follow my pulse, with no other imagery pretensions, just feeling the heartbeat and letting it go until the blood pumps and the brushstrokes come into action, which are faltering, and, depending on the duration, consecutive and organized. Brushstrokes become lines that get to be definite according to the rhythm and the speed of the pulse.”
Quoting Guillermo Solana: “Uslé has constructed an Anechoic chamber of his own, where to listen to silence of painting” ... He responds to his necessity to remove everything, to reach “amnesia”, as Uslé states. These paintings seem to be done in a state of somnambulism or hypnotic trance.”
On the other hand, the small works, which present equal formats but totally different soul and syntax. They belong to the group denominated by Uslé “Nemaste”. These works reflect their will of being totally different among them. Uslé tends to be loyal to two intentions. He has the desire of opening language’s range and extending the possibilities of painting and he holds a major respect for every single stage of difference, that very specific idiosyncrasy in each of his works, that idiosyncrasy creating a unique language: ‘’Learning to listen’’.
He seems to whisper, “We are alone” from the heart of some of these works. That is the same voice of Nemo, another “alter ego” for Uslé. Nemo has in many times usurped his position, in others, has helped him to keep better distances.
The most complex spaces are left for the final part. They are rhizomatic and schemed from an inner conflict. Thereby, the works belonging to “Manthis”, -exhibited in the first room-, appear as a labyrinth in constant movement. The colourful motif of the background possesses an apparent architectural solidity, but all of a sudden, it turns into a membrane, after being twisted and flooded with foreign voices, with syntax beyond the initial thoughts. New areas, fragments, forms and synthetic elements appear in our eyes via this complicated symbiosis. These symbolic elements run through multiplied spaces and seem to decisively make their final way to some swirling place, appointment or meeting, to a catalyst for new fusions and escapes.
“High Noon” also gives name to one of his works. It was exhibited during 1992-93 in Soledad Lorenzo and was part of his second exhibition at the gallery.
We can see the inconsolable image of a silhouetted man, sitting on a rock under a huge silhouetted tree. He gives the impression of keeping calm; he is maybe playing a mouth organ, or rolling a cigarette, maybe talking on a mobile phone. We do not only recognise the opening image of the film that gives name to this exhibition, but also the silence, the quietness and emptiness are the same. They approach us in the same time of the paintings, especially those belonging to “Sóné que revelabas”. That is what we always expect to find in our endeavours, both in theory and praxis, in life and loneliness.
Juan Uslé (Santander, 1954) is one of the big names in Spanish Painting within the international scene. During his outstanding career, he has participated in some prestigious gatherings such as: Documenta in Kasel, Biennale of Venezia, Biennale of Sao Paulo, and Biennale of Istanbul.
His work is already part of the most prestigious private and public art collections:
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Artium-Museo de Bellas Artes de álava, Vitoria; Centre Pompidou. Musée National d'Art Moderne. Paris; Belgacom Collection, Brussels; Colección Arte Contemporáneo Fundación «La Caixa», Barcelona; European Central Bank Collection; Peter Norton Family Collection, California; Saatchi Collection, London; FNAC, Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Ministère de Culture, Paris; Fundación AENA. Colección de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid; Fundación Banco de España, Madrid; Marugame Hirai Museum, Japan; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Tate Modern, London. SMAK, Stedelïjk Museum Voor Actuele Kunst, Gante.
In the near future, his work will be shown in Paris, Los Angeles, London, Naples and New York. Kunstmuseum is also organising a wide display of the dark paintings from “Soñé que revelabas” (February 26 – June 1, 2014). The Director of the centre, Professor Dr. Stephan Berg, will curate the exhibition. Similarly, Raimund Stecker, Director of Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, will be developing an exhibition of the works belonging to “Nemaste”, to be held in Autumn 2014.
*“High Noon”, is also the title for one of Juan Uslé’s paintings from 1992-93 exhibited at this same space in his 2nd show at Soledad Lorenzo in 1993