The Colorful World of Nicolas Party 

In a world of numerous artists with various styles and mediums, the colorful work of Nicolas Party has completely stood out for me. From his vibrant colors to his bold silhouettes, the art he has created can be experienced in many ways and in a variety of forms including murals, paintings, and sculptures, as well as several mediums like graphite, pastels, metals, and ceramics. To me, the core message derived from his works is the importance of temporary moments and being able to find the meaning in them. He has managed to combine the heritage of the history of art and contemporary art realities. From large sculptures to even larger murals and paintings, Nicolas Party has proven that his work can speak for itself, with many of his works being hosted in numerous galleries all over the world.  

Nicolas Party, who received his BFA degree from the Lausanne School of Art and his MFA from the Glasgow School of art in Glasgow, Scotland, is a Swiss-born visual artist (with his main inspiration being the association of temporary and permanent) who creates artworks that incorporates elements, symbols, and permanent forms. He has a focused mediation on the significance of color and the simplification for genuine insight. These details used help conserve the heritage of the history in art, with a modern and unique twist. Often emphasizing the many ways in which we experience temporary moments; he uses real-life references in addition to his own personal life moments while also visually expressing the many forms of human identity. Many of his subjects challenge normative codes of representational paintings with them frequently being rendered as androgynous and biomorphic, usually blended by hand in soft pastel. His natural world fascination and the adjacent characters that live in it proves how influential historical periods like the Romanticism of the late nineteenth century, or the figurative paintings of the twentieth century, were to his overall interest in creating art. Initially starting out as a graffiti artist as a young boy, his eye for color and large graphics stemmed directly from his spray painting experiences, professing that his early works are a main inspiration for everything he is doing right now.  He has also cited historical artists like Pablo Picasso and Giorgio Mirandi as huge influences on his work. The hyper realistic nature of his work is what has stood out, with his self-portraits being the most praised primarily for their monochromatic color schemes which he also frequently uses in his landscapes. Graffiti also plays a huge role in how he has become the artist he is today. He is quoted saying “Another important influence of graffiti on my current work is its aesthetic. When you paint on the train or by the side of the highway you need to choose very bold colors and graphic depictions.” This certainly explains his bold choices in colors and even the shapes and textures he commonly uses in his works.  

As a contemporary artist, Party is apart of the current generation of artists whose works completely speaks for themselves as they express themselves at their own will. They are using various mediums and are culturally diverse and technologically advanced. Their works reflect on modern society through their own eyes, regardless of how unconventional it may be. These artists are redefining how new generations perceive art and more importantly the world around us. Many of these artists want to separate themselves from typical modern art, creating a somewhat unrealistic form of reality. This has in-turn allowed us to question everything about our entire existence, true meanings and values.  

Blue Sunset (2018) is a mural style painting done by Party that signifies the beauty of the sunrise and sunset, and how fascinating the rotation of earth can be in the very moment of either. The concept of time is the essential focus here, which debuted at his solo exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC. Reflecting a quote stated by then U.S.  president Obama on election day (“No matter what happens, the sun will rise in the morning”) Nicolas was inspired to create the series of 20 wall paintings of the sunrise or sunset. He captures this moment in this artwork (which sold for $6.7m in 2022) using a mixture of pastels and paint with core colors like dark blues and browns to really highlight the time of day at which this moment is taking. The landscape mural was purchased in Hong-Kong which was new territory for Nicolas as it was sold at his second exhibition in Hong Kong, and his highest selling work to date. 

Bust (2019) is a wood, oil, and acrylic sculpture by Party. Like many of his sculpture figures, the subject appears genderless as it is hard to make out. The frantic position of the sculptures mouth gives the notion that there is a seriousness about this piece and really makes you wonder exactly what inspired such a creation. The bold use of purple and red makes this sculpture stand out completely as it was presented against a bright yellow background, adding to the attraction that drew me in. Many of his sculptures have these varying expressions which to me tells different stories and the fact that the genders of many of his subjects are non-conforming adds to the futuristic aspect of his work as this is a huge topic of now. History has always been gender specific so this element is really refreshing and typically unheard of. He states that he feels more comfortable painting a person that is not gendered in his head as it is more open for him that way. (Laster, 2023) 

Though these are different mediums used, they both equally are captivating in their own ways. The commonality is the fact that he has managed to use color in a way that speaks vividly and loudly. Granted Nicolas Party is using classical mediums, the works take on futuristic appearances with the silhouettes and shapes used to convey his messages. His use of pastels also used in both has impressed many within the art space as it had grown to be viewed as a lost art. Quoted by Stephanie Roach, “He’s brought pastel, a medium with hundreds of years of history, back to the forefront and made it contemporary and fresh.” While Blue Sunset allows you to be in the moment in a physical time of the day that we experience every day, Bust allows you to resonate with a feeling of maybe franticness or confusion. Although human-like sculptures and landscapes are two different forms of art, all of the works still hold a sense of cohesion. Many of his sculptures are colored just as vibrant as his landscapes, allowing the pieces to stand out as main attractions. Contrast is an element that plays a major role in many of his works, and especially in the two chosen. Complementary colors are used throughout both of these pieces which certainly commands the viewers’ attention. Blue Sunset is more muted, using darker hues while Bust is bright, yet they both draw your attention the same. He credits computers and the digital ages as a main reason as to why his art looks and feels the way it does saying “My portraits couldn’t exist before the computer. I grew up with computers, I’ve created tons of things on computers, and all those images are in my mind when I paint”. (Phaidon, 2020) 

With his most recent release of his book detailing his entire career, Nicolas has no plans of slowing down. The now New York residing visual artist is represented by strong galleries such as Hauser & Wirth in both the US and overseas and has sold countless amounts of pieces following his debut exhibition. He has started using new ways of working like oil-on-copper, which was inspired by17th-century artist Jan Van Kessel the Elder, who also did paintings on copper. It is his ability to continuously incorporate the past with the present that has helped make his art a staple within the current art world. His latest fixation is on swamps and waterfalls. He shares his love for the swamps in 19th century British literature as well as the beauty of waterfalls and how to mix the concept with unconventional mediums that will allow you to see this phenomenon in a different light. In his never-ending quest to outdo his previous works, I do think that he is a major impact on many artists of tomorrow and the art world as a whole. He is stepping outside of the box and doing things different from many other contemporary artists. In addition to all of his many successes, this year Nicolas will receive the amfAR award for excellence for Artistic Contributions to the fight against AIDS in recognition of his support for amfAR’s programs. With all of these achievements, it is safe to say that Nicolas Party has certainly left his mark on the art world and has remained very humble about all that he has done within these last few years. This research has allowed me to realize that Party’s point of view has significantly renewed the interests of many other artists, auction houses, collectors, and galleries, with his traditional techniques. 

All Images Provided Via Instagram