Nicolas Party - Portrait with Shells

Nicolas Party’s Portrait with Shells (2021) is a striking woodcut that blends his signature surreal aesthetic with a meticulous attention to texture and form. The limited edition print depicts a stylized female face, with an array of intricately detailed shells arranged around her head, mimicking a surreal hairstyle. This bold composition creates a dreamlike interplay between the organic and the human, evoking a sense of timelessness and contemplation, characteristic of Party’s exploration of nature, artifice, and portraiture.

Nicolas Party is a Swiss-born artist who has gained international recognition for his bold and colorful artworks that blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and installation art. Primarily known for his color-saturated paintings and murals, Nicolas Party also creates painted sculptures, prints, and drawings, and works as a curator. He often paints everyday objects, landscapes, and portraits, removing any extraneous details. His artworks often feature large areas of flat, brightly hued color, juxtaposed with intricate patterns or detailed brushwork. The painter’s bold use of color and pattern creates a sense of visual rhythm and movement, inviting viewers to engage with his artwork on multiple levels. Another hallmark of Nicolas Party’s work is his interest in the intersection between two- and three-dimensional forms. Many of his artworks incorporate sculptural elements, such as cut-out shapes or three-dimensional objects that protrude from the surface of the canvas. By blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture, Party challenges traditional notions of what constitutes a work of art, and invites viewers to reconsider their relationship to the physical space around them. In addition to his individual paintings, prints and sculptures, Nicolas Party is also known for his large-scale installations. These artworks often incorporate both painting and sculptural elements, creating immersive environments that transport viewers into another world. One such installation, titled “Speakers’ Corner,” was created for the New Museum in New York in 2019. The artwork consisted of a series of brightly colored, oversized heads that were arranged in a circle, as if engaged in a lively conversation. By inviting viewers to enter into this imaginary conversation, Nicolas Party encouraged them to consider their own relationship to the world and to each other. His artwork has been exhibited internationally including recent solo exhibitions at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Le Consortium, Dijon; M WOODS, Beijing; and Magritte Museum, Brussels. Born in 1980 in Lausanne, Switzerland.