Nicolas Party: Red Forest

Red Forest is a solo exhibition by the Swiss visual artist Nicolas Party, which he starts with the five elements of the material world: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and consists of 13 new pastel landscapes and portraits created exclusively for this exhibition, illustrating the complex and often inextricable links between nature and humans.

The artist's recent series of portraits feature figures obscured by meteorites from outer space. The appearance of meteorites is reminiscent of stone in Chinese natural sculpture, or metal in Chinese literati culture. These rock formations are depicted in striking, intricate forms, with numerous fissures that indicate erosion, and contrast with the human figures that bear them. The timelessness of painting and its associated traditions fascinated the party. This is also reflected in the "Water Reflection" paintings, where clouds, water, and reflections symbolize a kind of eternity or the constant passage of time.

By applying five elements in the creation of this new work, the artist asks the question: Are humans a part of nature, or are they an external force that dominates and destroys our environment? “The history of landscape painting traces the ever-changing relationship of humans to the natural environment,” the party notes. “Landscapes often depict a compliment of our conquest of the environment or nostalgia for the lost paradise that existed before we destroyed it. We can say, The greatest landscape paintings contain both ideas and questions about the viewer.
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