At MASI, the first major immersive monographic exhibition of Nicolas Party in a museum

The MASI Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana in Lugano is hosting Rovine, the first major monographic exhibition by Nicolas Party (Lausanne, 1980) mounted in a European museum, until January 9, 2022. With this immersive project, the artist has created an alienating universe, characterized by strong color contrasts, enveloping architectural forms and unexpected trompe l’œil decorations, within which his magnetic works are staged: large site-specific murals, polychrome sculptures and pastel paintings.

The exhibition project was created by the artist specifically for the basement of MASI, in the LAC cultural center venue, where the five rooms in which the exhibition unfolds are each dedicated to a recurring theme in Nicolas Party’s art: still life, portraits, rocky views, caves and landscapes.

Outside the structure, Party has created four large pastel murals inspired by as many works by Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901), a Swiss painter and one of the leading exponents of Symbolism, depicting enigmatic views of ruined buildings to which the exhibition’s title refers. These monochromatic, decadent scenes welcome the viewer into an environment in stark contrast to the chromatic jubilation of the works and the interior spaces of the architecture. Indeed, the artist has further modified the exhibition space through contrasting color fields and trompe l’œil polychrome marble decorations, created in collaboration with Sarah Margnetti. Her exhibitions provide an opportunity to stage paintings and sculptures in an environment capable of activating new possibilities for reading the works, placing them in relation not only to each other but also to the setting in which they are located.

The installation presents thirty-one pastel paintings and four painted sculptures (including a large one placed outside the museum), works created between 2013 and today, some of which are presented to the public for the first time. His subjects are delineated by circumscribed and contrasting color fields, following a strategy that can be traced in part to his artistic apprenticeship, which began with graffiti making.

Party’s compositions are not born from observation of the real datum, but arise exclusively from his imagination and are characterized by an extremely simple setting devoid of any temporal or environmental reference. Although his subjects have no direct relation to reality, the audience is led to relate them back to recognizable entities such as faces, fruits or trees. The artist places his creative universe in constant dialogue with art history; Party’s references range from the search for an ideal perfection of classical art to the scientific minutia of Dutch still lifes of the 17th century. He is also passionate about the work of famous artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) or Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918), but also about the art of figures less known to the general public, such as the Belgian Symbolist William Degouve de Nuncques (1867-1935) or the portraitist Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757), the latter of whom is linked to the history of pastel, a technique Nicolas Party favors.

Ruins is a project by Nicolas Party curated by Tobia Bezzola and Francesca Bernasconi.

For more info: masilugano.ch

Image: Nicolas Party, View of the installation of Rovine at MASI Lugano. Photo Annik Wetter © Nicolas Party

At MASI, the first major immersive monographic exhibition of Nicolas Party in a museum

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