The fantastical universe of Swiss painter Nicolas Party’s immersive murals comes to life in this richly illustrated monograph.

The first instalment of the new Contemporary Masters series — a set of monographs spotlighting some of the most influential artists of recent years — focuses on the mural work of celebrated Swiss painter Nicolas Party. His oeuvre ranges from the intimate to the gigantic, spanning from paintings, sculptures, and pietra dura, to the installations and public murals that are this monograph’s focus. Often commissioned in the context of institutional exhibitions, Party’s mural works are usually removed when the associated show comes to a close. The extensive documentation featured in the book offers a way of revisiting and experience these ephemeral works anew, with newly written texts by the artist about each mural providing intimate access to the thinking that goes into his brightly hued, uncanny universe of fantastical landscapes, characters, and motifs.

Jamilee Lacy is Executive Director of Frye Art Museum in Seattle.

Nicolas Party is a New York based, Swiss artist who has achieved critical admiration for his familiar yet unsettling landscapes, portraits, and still lifes that simultaneously celebrate and challenge conventions of representational painting. In addition to paintings, Party creates public murals, pietra dura, ceramics, installation works, and sculptures.