拍品 50 AProperty from a Distinguished New York Collection
NICOLAS PARTY (B. 1980)
Grotto
競投開始尚餘
估價
USD 2,000,000–3,000,000
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專家說明
"What interests me in the motifs that I choose for my paintings is that they have an art historical imprint, a fairly anchored place in the history of representation. The grotto is one such motif. There is an incredible amount of symbolism, of history. Clearly, for some time, we consider it to be the first place art was created" (N. Party, quoted in E. Troncu, “Nicolas Party in Conversation with Eric Troncu,” Artsy, December 10, 2019).
Nicolas Party’s Grotto is a monumental, virtuosic work in pastel with deep art historical roots. Evoking the sublime blue of Giotto’s fresco for the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Grotto is an engrossing canvas that appears to exist outside of time. Millennia old stalagmites and stalactites connect to form a mysterious space, rich in detail but also containing a dark foreboding core. Rendered in the artist’s signature pastel, the surface becomes a textured, luxurious surface, at once inviting, yet at the same time precious and off limits. Grotto is part of a series of just three works executed in red, green, and blue, colors which come together to form the RGB color model, the basis for the display of digital images. In this way, Party considers the contemporary as much as he is honoring the past.
Always thinking about art history, Party had specific references for Grotto. Firstly, he calls back to Renaissance and early modern paintings of hermits, such as Hieronymus Bosch’s The Hermit Saints (c. 1493), Gerrit Dou’s The Hermit (1670), and Willem van Mieris’s Hermit Praying in the Wilderness (1707). Such paintings often contained a memento mori, which reminded viewers of the inevitability of death, and insisted that lonely reflection was a sure path to salvation. As Party muses, “Nature always reminds us that our body will disappear soon; that life is a very brief moment” (N. Party, quoted in R. Vitorelli, “Interview Nicolas Party,” Spike Art Magazine, Summer 2015).
Party also cites Gustave Courbet’s The Source of the Loue (1864), which depicts a river that runs through his hometown of Ornans, France. In both Courbet’s work and Party’s, beauty emerges from darkness, and the skilled touch of the artist engenders a scene that we feel we might be able to step into ourselves. Finally, Party refers most directly to the Belgian artist William Degouve de Nuncques’s The Grotto of Manacor, Mallorca (c. 1901). Party explains, “He is quite renowned [in Belgium], but not very well known internationally…He painted the coves of Marseille. It’s quite magnificent” (N. Party, quoted in E. Troncu, “Nicolas Party in Conversation with Eric Troncu,” Artsy, December 10, 2019). The Grotto of Manacor, Mallorca is also a blue monochrome, elements of which Party translates into his signature style.
Grotto is an opportunity to deepen our understanding of Party’s love for art history and pastel. Though his references are varied, the resulting work is unmistakably his. It is like a fairy tale, both inviting and foreboding, with its fantastical shapes and promise of adventure. What lies in the darkness, just beyond these mysterious forms? It is as if we are looking at the Lascaux caves, where animal drawings from 17,000 years ago cover the walls.
Nicolas Party’s Grotto is a monumental, virtuosic work in pastel with deep art historical roots. Evoking the sublime blue of Giotto’s fresco for the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Grotto is an engrossing canvas that appears to exist outside of time. Millennia old stalagmites and stalactites connect to form a mysterious space, rich in detail but also containing a dark foreboding core. Rendered in the artist’s signature pastel, the surface becomes a textured, luxurious surface, at once inviting, yet at the same time precious and off limits. Grotto is part of a series of just three works executed in red, green, and blue, colors which come together to form the RGB color model, the basis for the display of digital images. In this way, Party considers the contemporary as much as he is honoring the past.
Always thinking about art history, Party had specific references for Grotto. Firstly, he calls back to Renaissance and early modern paintings of hermits, such as Hieronymus Bosch’s The Hermit Saints (c. 1493), Gerrit Dou’s The Hermit (1670), and Willem van Mieris’s Hermit Praying in the Wilderness (1707). Such paintings often contained a memento mori, which reminded viewers of the inevitability of death, and insisted that lonely reflection was a sure path to salvation. As Party muses, “Nature always reminds us that our body will disappear soon; that life is a very brief moment” (N. Party, quoted in R. Vitorelli, “Interview Nicolas Party,” Spike Art Magazine, Summer 2015).
Party also cites Gustave Courbet’s The Source of the Loue (1864), which depicts a river that runs through his hometown of Ornans, France. In both Courbet’s work and Party’s, beauty emerges from darkness, and the skilled touch of the artist engenders a scene that we feel we might be able to step into ourselves. Finally, Party refers most directly to the Belgian artist William Degouve de Nuncques’s The Grotto of Manacor, Mallorca (c. 1901). Party explains, “He is quite renowned [in Belgium], but not very well known internationally…He painted the coves of Marseille. It’s quite magnificent” (N. Party, quoted in E. Troncu, “Nicolas Party in Conversation with Eric Troncu,” Artsy, December 10, 2019). The Grotto of Manacor, Mallorca is also a blue monochrome, elements of which Party translates into his signature style.
Grotto is an opportunity to deepen our understanding of Party’s love for art history and pastel. Though his references are varied, the resulting work is unmistakably his. It is like a fairy tale, both inviting and foreboding, with its fantastical shapes and promise of adventure. What lies in the darkness, just beyond these mysterious forms? It is as if we are looking at the Lascaux caves, where animal drawings from 17,000 years ago cover the walls.