JUAN USLÉ
SANTANDER, ESPAÑA / SPAIN, 1954
Soñé que revelabas. El invitado (I Dreamt that you Revealed. The Guest), 2004 Vinílico, dispersión y pigmentos sobre lienzo / Vinyl, dispersion and pigment on canvas 275 x 203 cm
Adquirida / Adquired 2004

“Soñé que revelabas” is a series of paintings Juan Uslé has been working on for over two decades. He usually paints them at night, when the ambient silence allows him to listen to his own heart beating; he applies the brush to the canvas, one heartbeat at a time. The painting becomes a trace and proof of this essential aliveness, and also a kind of clock that marks time elapsing; it is as universal as it is intimate. The palette evokes the darkness of the night, and the lines function akin to punctuation.
These self-portraits of sorts also formally relate to the history of abstraction. Uslé creates a language that refers to Minimalism, while one may also think of a musical score.