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Nicolas Party

NICOLAS PARTY

Clotho Hauser & Wirth 14 October–20 December 2025 London
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Press Release

The universe of Swiss painter Nicolas Party comes alive in his first solo exhibition at Hauser & Wirth in London. Featuring 15 new treescapes and portraits in pastel, this exhibition celebrates and challenges longstanding and cherished conventions of representational painting through Party’s signature style. The portraits in the exhibition, inspired by two sculptural works by Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin, serve as a conceptual springboard to also frame the group of treescapes on view.

Party utilises the symbolism and mythological references present in these sculptures to confront the inevitability of aging and death, two themes that have long been central to his artistic exploration. Known for his unique use of soft pastel, the artist has become a master of the medium, employing the pigment’s versatility, immediacy and saturated colour.

Party is known for conceiving his exhibitions as comprehensive environments, incorporating architectural interventions and extending the palette of his paintings across the gallery’s walls. Heightening the powerful formal and psychological effects of his subject matter, he has chosen to steep the surrounding walls in a rich electric blue for this exhibition, punctuated by arches that lead the viewer through each space and frame the view of the final treescape.

The first instalment of Hauser & Wirth Publishers’ new Contemporary Masters series, a new monograph focused on Nicolas Party’s mural work, will be published alongside this exhibition. ‘Nicolas Party: Copper & Dust’ is on view at The Holburne Museum in Bath, UK until 31 August 2025, accompanied by a large site-specific pastel mural responding to a work from the museum’s collection, on display until 19 October 2025.

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About the Artist

Born in Lausanne in 1980, Party is a figurative painter who has achieved critical admiration for bold and otherworldly landscapes, portraits, and still lifes that simultaneously celebrate and challenge conventions of representational painting. His works are primarily created in soft pastel, an idiosyncratic choice of medium in the 21st century, and one that allows for exceptional degrees of intensity and fluidity in his depictions of objects both natural and manmade. Transforming these objects into abstracted, biomorphic shapes, Party suggests deeper connections and meanings. His unique visual language has coalesced in a universe of fantastical characters and motifs where perspective is heightened and skewed to uncanny effect.

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Also Exhibiting at Hauser & Wirth

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Irène Zurkinden Hauser & Wirth 27 August–28 November 2026 Basel
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James Jarvaise, Henry Taylor
JAMES JARVAISE, HENRY TAYLOR Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked Hauser & Wirth 12 June–5 September 2026 Zürich, Limmatstrasse
Avery Singer
AVERY SINGER War_overlays Hauser & Wirth 12 June–5 September 2026 Zürich, Limmatstrasse
About the Gallery

Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by Partner and Vice President Marc Payot. A family business with a global outlook, Hauser & Wirth has expanded over the past 26 years to include outposts in Hong Kong, London, New York, Los Angeles, Somerset and Gstaad. The gallery represents over 70 artists and estates who have been instrumental in shaping its identity over the past quarter century, and who are the inspiration for Hauser & Wirth’s diverse range of activities that engage with art, education, conservation and sustainability.

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Address
23 Savile Row
London
United Kingdom
Opening Hours
Tuesday – Saturday
10am – 6pm
(1)
London 23 Savile Row
Hauser Wirth contemporary art gallery in London United Kingdom
Hauser & Wirth
23 Savile Row, London, United Kingdom
+44 207 287 2300
http://www.hauserwirth.com

Opening hours
Tuesday – Saturday
10am – 6pm
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