Juan Uslé : Eye and Landscape

The Fundació Per Amor a l’Art present at Bombas Gens Art Centre, the exhibition Juan Uslé. Eye and Landscape, curated by Vicent Todolí, advisor of Per Amor a l’Art Collection, and Nuria Enguita.

Juan Uslé (Santander, 1954) works from photography and memory and presents an evocative painting linked to abstraction. This exhibition features a selection of works by the artist from the late 1980s to the present day. At that time, the artist began to question the relationship between landscape, gaze and brain. These abstract expressions and robust brushwork are accompanied by watercolours that Uslé prepared simultaneously. In the 1990s, this questioning turns towards an interrogation about the nature of pictorial language, resulting in landscapes of intense colours that alternate gesture and geometry.

The first works, which date back to the 80s, show the period where Uslé begins to problematize the relation between landscape, vision and mind, between abstraction, robust brushstrokes and watercolours. In the 90s he starts questioning the pictorial language with those bright colour landscapes that combine gesture and geometry. The exhibition closes with his latest period, where a series of intimate self-portraits and drawings function as annotations or tests.

The exhibition ends with a selection of pieces from the “Soñé que revelabas” series produced in the last ten years. This series—a sort of self-portraits that represent Uslé's most intimate work—is contextualised with a set of drawings that function as notes or proofs.

Juan Uslé. Eye and Landscape is the result of research on Uslé’s works in the Per Amor a l’Art Collection, whose advisor, Vicent Todolí, recognized “the profound research on the long career of such an internationally renowned artist, who is present in the exhibition not only with works from our collection but also through various loans from other institutions, private collectors or the very artist.”

Susana Lloret, vice-president of the foundation, highlights the important role of art during these times: “Sharing these works feels very satisfactory because we have never pursued the acquisition of artworks to keep them in a warehouse. Art is a form of communication, therefore, it needs to interact with people to communicate, to move, to surprise, or even to provoke the audience. In the present circumstances, we believe that it essential to cause reactions that go beyond the hard and puzzling everyday, focusing on something stimulating such as art and the artist, in this case, Juan Uslé.”

The exhibition offers “a unique opportunity” to look at an exceptional group of works that are the result of 40 years and different stages in the artist’s career, as emphasized by Bombas Gens artistic director, Sandra Guimarães. 

On the occasion of the exhibition, the Fundació Per Amor a l'Art has published a catalog with texts by John Yau and Mónica Carballas, along with images of the works and archive photographs by Juan Uslé.

Juan Uslé (Santander, 1954) is one of the most internationally recognized Spanish artists and in 2002 was awarded the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas del Ministerio de Cultura. With more than thirty years of artistic career, he has made numerous exhibitions in institutions such as the Serralves Museum (Porto), Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (Vienna), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid) or The New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), among others.

Fundació Per Amor a l’Art
The Fundació Per Amor a l’Art is a private and familiar foundation that deploys its artistic, social and research-driven activity in the restored former factory of Bombas Gens, in Valencia. The Foundation develops the artistic domain through the Bombas Gens Art Centre. The Social Area fosters the social integration mission of the Foundation, focusing on the support of underage children in risk of exclusion and people with acquired brain injuries. Moreover, the Wilson Team promotes the research and divulgation of rare diseases, in particular the Wilson’s disease.