Congratulations to Juan Uslé, winner of the 2020 Daniel and Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation Drawing Prize.
Created in 1996, the Daniel & Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation established the prize in 2007 to encourage and promote drawing in contemporary art, it has since made a huge contribution to the recognition of the medium. The other artists shortlisted this year were Callum Innes and Florian Pumhösl.
Juan Uslé's rhythmic abstractions, constructed with translucent layers of handmade saturated colour, evoke the environs and energy of his homes in Northern Spain and New York City. In his works on paper, Uslé exploits the nature of opposites: between organic and geometric forms, randomness and order, and the simultaneous physicality of watercolour and its ability to disappear into sheer, ethereal surfaces and illusions of light.
