Party, Nicolas | Portrait With Shells, 2021 — available on Composition Gallery

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Woodcut on HM-5 Gampi-shi 30gsm. Signed and numbered by the artist.

Portrait With Shells (2021) by Nicolas Party is a woodcut print that merges portraiture with elements of natural surrealism. The central figure, presented in stark black and white contrast, is an androgynous face with a composed gaze. Instead of traditional hair or headwear, the figure's head is adorned with an intricate arrangement of various sea shells, including a scallop and spiraled forms, stylized in flowing, organic contours. The image evokes associations with classical portraiture and mythological iconography, blending delicacy with strangeness. Printed on ultra-light HM-5 Gampi-shi paper in a limited edition of 50, this work exemplifies Party’s fascination with natural forms and their transformation into emblematic, dreamlike symbols.

Nicolas Party (Switzerland, 1980) is a contemporary artist celebrated for his surreal, vividly colored landscapes and portraits. Working across painting, sculpture, and installation, he reimagines classical genres with a modern twist. Party’s art often features soft pastel as a primary medium, creating dreamlike atmospheres that captivate viewers.

Nicolas Party

Portrait With Shells, 2021

Name: Portrait With Shells, 2021
SKU: 15873

Form

Limited Edition Print

Limited Edition PrintA limited edition print is one of a number of prints made at the same time from one printmaking plate. A fixed number are made and signed by the artist, indicating the printing order, using the format 1/10, meaning first of ten prints.

Medium

Woodcut

WoodcutWoodcut is a printing technique where an image is carved into the surface of a woodblock using gouges, with the remaining flat surface holding the ink for printing. The areas cut away by the artist do not carry ink, while the uncut areas do, producing the desired print. The carving follows the wood's grain, unlike wood engraving, where the block is cut across the end-grain. Ink is applied to the surface with a roller, ensuring only the flat, uncarved areas receive ink, leaving the recessed, non-printing areas clean.

Edition

Edition of 50

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●Inventory 15873

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Limited Edition Print

Mixed Media

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The contemporary painter, installation artist, and sculptor, Nicholas Party, is most well-known for the critically acclaimed way in which he unites a disquieting form of representation with otherwise soothing pastel colors and flowing, simplified organic shapes. Although his works characteristically feature sharp demarcations between the various subjects and elements of his compositions, they nevertheless reflect his early interest in graffiti art, exhibiting an air-brushed quality.

His landscapes feature highly stylized, abstracted depictions of trees, shrubs, and other flora, which are reminiscent of both Félix Vallotton's unemotional landscapes and Theodor Seuss Geisel's well-known illustrations.

With respect to his portraits, Nicholas Party's figures appear both imposing and yet supple, owing to his skilled use of shading. Although irrealist in form, his subjects often stare out from the canvass with wide, penetrating eyes, much in the manner of Ferdinand Hodler's realist portraits. By denuding his own subjects of the detail associated with realist representations and depicting them as androgenous, Party's subjects appear uncanny and intense—features which are exacerbated by his use of solid backgrounds and the unusual perspective imposed upon them.

Artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat

What is Street art?

Street Art is artwork created and executed in public spaces, outside of traditional art venues. It gained popularity during the 1980s graffiti art boom and has since evolved into various forms and styles. Common forms of Street Art include pop-up art, sticker art, stencil graffiti, and street installations or sculptures. Terms like guerrilla art, neo-graffiti, post-graffiti, and urban art are often used interchangeably to describe this genre, which challenges conventional ideas about where and how art should be displayed.

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Nicolas Party

Portrait With Shells, 2021

35.6 x 27.9 cm

Language & Currency

Nicolas Party