Nicolas Party
Rocks
Nicolas Party is renowned for his boldly colored portraits, still lifes, and remarkable landscapes. In ‘Rocks’ (2016), strata of vibrantly colored biomorphic forms cascade down the composition. Set against a light blue background, these vibrant shapes overlap and push towards the front of the canvas, creating the illusion of depth while retaining a sense of flatness. Measuring just over seven feet in height, the monumental work resembles a mountain expanse as viewed from afar, resonating in subject matter and vertical format with Chinese ‘shan shui’ paintings and a broader tradition of landscape painting, which Party captures in a distinctly contemporary way.
Speaking about his engagement with the history of art, Party reflected: ‘I’m trying to work with subjects that are not original. Subjects that have been, and still are, painted all the time... What fascinates me about these topics is their capacity to regenerate themselves at any period of history, and still be relevant to us. I also believe some subjects are always painted because they are an infinite source of meaning and inspiration.’ [1]
The enthralling work has a soft, smooth quality—a hallmark of Party’s work enabled by his ingenious use of soft pastel. Describing his choice of medium, Party stated: ‘Soft pastel is very different, it’s very gentle. It’s just dust.’ [2] Party crafts his subjects with exceptional precision, applying the soft chalk medium with his fingertips. Reflecting on this granular process, he stated that with pastels: ‘…You can layer and layer, but you can’t start over. The nature of the medium is much more direct. Nothing dries or is wet—it stays exactly how it is.’ [2] Party’s light, agile touch and vivid pigments harken back to his early exploration of graffiti art as a teenager. Although no longer part of the artist’s practice, graffiti’s optical and compositional strategies are foundational to the artist’s method.
Accordingly, ‘Rocks’ captures the artist’s deft handling of soft pastel, which challenges and celebrates traditional conventions of representational image-making. His unique visual language, paired with the vibrant fluidity of his material, transforms the landscape tradition into an alluring and enveloping experience. The result is an awe-inspiring work that captivates the viewer with its chromatic intensity.
About the artist
Born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1980, Nicolas Party is a figurative painter who is best known for his unique approach to landscapes, portraits and still life scenes. Transforming his subject matter into abstracted, biomorphic shapes, Party suggests deeper connections and meanings. His unique visual language has coalesced in a universe of fantastical characters and motifs where perspective is heightened and skewed to uncanny effect. His works are primarily created in soft pastel, an idiosyncratic choice of medium in the 21st Century, and one that allows for an exceptional degree of intensity and fluidity in his depictions of objects both natural and manmade.
Artwork images © Nicolas Party. Photo: South Ho
Portrait of Nicolas Party © Nicolas Party. Photo: Axel Dupeux
1.) Nicolas Party quoted in Federica Tattoli, ‘Talking with the Swiss Painter Nicolas Party,’ Fruit of the Forest, 2016, online.
2.) Nicolas Party quoted in Glenn Fuhrman, Melissa Hyde, Dodie Kazanjian, ‘Pastel: An Exhibition by Nicolas Party,’ New York NY: The FLAG Art Foundation, 2020, 11.
3.) Nicolas Party quoted in Ted Loos, ‘Artist Nicolas Party Revives the Language of Pastel,’ Cultured Mag, March 2019, online.