Nicolas Party’s Sublime World at the Modern Institute

From a moonlit dinosaur and a forest engulfed by fire to a tranquil jungle waterfall and a tiny sleeping infant, Nicolas Party‘s paintings swerve between different subjects and scales.

In Glasgow, The Modern Institute presents Cretaceous (9 June–23 September 2023), Party’s sixth solo exhibition with the gallery, which explores the artist’s fascination with the sublime.

In Mountains and Waterfall (both 2023), Party depicts wild, wonderful landscapes. Rendered in vibrant blue and green soft pastels, the works introduce the power of nature into the gallery space.

This feeling of immersion extends beyond the canvas, amplified by the building’s distinct architecture. Incoming sunlight from a nearby window illuminates Party’s paintings, while exposed brick contrasted with plum-coloured walls offers a sense of old and new—harmonising with the timeless quality of Party’s paintings.

The New York and Brussels-based artist’s tiny paintings of dinosaurs (measuring no more than 18.1 x 14 cm) result from his study of the history of dinosaur illustration. They are a playful nod to the passage of time and remind us of creatures made extinct—an issue that continues to take hold of earth’s species today due to climate change.

Main image: Nicolas Party, Red Forest (2023). Soft pastel on linen. 181 x 115.9 x 9.8 cm. Courtesy the artist and The Modern Institute, Glasgow. Photo: Patrick Jameson.