Juan Uslé (Santander) has been living in New York since the early 90’s and is one of the most prominent figures of contemporary painting. The hypersensitivity described by Uslé in his work is a sort of memorable visionary state because it is painful. When we see certain paintings by Uslé, always in intense, bright and burning colours, we should be reminded of encounters with one of those states that take us out of our everyday way of perceiving, one of those events that teach us that everything we perceive can be captured in an entirely different way, given that even a small modification of the perceptual apparatus can cause it to vary.

Some of Uslé’s paintings, the most complex, bring vision to mind through a kaleidoscope. It is useful to recall that these types of experiences, which we are unaccustomed to, are neither easy nor comfortable, and yet are just a step, though a crucial step, away from being painful. In their excess they put pressure on our aesthetic expectations. This work would be the pictorial equivalent of Rimbaud’s famous quote “dérèglement de tous les sens”.

•   This is the first complete monograph dedicated to the career of Juan Uslé.

•   In addition to an in-depth essay by the renowned New York art critic, Barry Schwabsky, the book also includes an important body of works and aphorisms by the Spanish artist.

•   His work currently forms part of the permanent collections of the most important museums and collections: Kunstmuseum Bonn (Bonn), Daros Latinamerica (Zurich/Río de Janeiro), Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao), Museum of Modern Art (New York).

>> Barry Schwabskyis an American art critic and poet. He has taught at Yale University, and Goldsmiths College, among others. Currently he is critic for The Nation and co-editor of international reviews for Artforum.

He has published books on Jessica Stockholder, Mel Bochner, Gillian Wearing and Alighiero Boetti, among others.