The Hoam Museum of Art is currently hosting the largest exhibition ever of Swiss artist Nicolas Party, titled "Dust." Running from August 31, 2024, to January 19, 2025, this monumental showcase presents an impressive collection of the artist's works, featuring 48 of his existing paintings and sculptures alongside 20 new pieces. In addition, the exhibition boasts five large-scale pastel murals, created exclusively for the event, and selects key works from the Leeum Museum of Art’s traditional art collection, making it a dynamic fusion of modern and classical art.

Nicolas Party is well known for his multidisciplinary background, having studied film, graphic design, and 3D animation, as well as for his early immersion in the world of graffiti. Though his primary focus has been on painting, his extensive artistic experiences—ranging from murals and sculptures to exhibition curation—have deeply influenced his practice. "Dust" not only showcases Party’s mastery of the pastel medium but also reflects on broader themes of transience, impermanence, and human-nature relationships, central to his artistic philosophy.

The title “Dust” is a direct reference to the nature of pastel, a medium that Party has revived from relative obscurity. Once popular during the 18th century, pastels have largely fallen out of favor in contemporary art, yet Party employs them as a central component in his work. Pastels, with their delicate and powdery texture, are easily dispersed into the air, likened by Party to “dust from a butterfly’s wings.” This materiality speaks to the ephemeral nature of life, art, and existence, a central theme running through the exhibition. The artist’s expansive pastel murals, painted directly onto the museum’s walls, will exist only for the duration of the exhibition and disappear afterward, further emphasizing the fleeting nature of both the medium and the human experience.

One of the major highlights of the exhibition is Party’s use of pastel murals. Spanning entire walls, these murals transform the space, creating an immersive environment. The first-floor lobby features Party’s work “Wandering Sun Series,” a 17-meter-long video installation that depicts a vivid, crimson sunrise. The deep red hue radiating from the screen washes over the walls and floors, enveloping visitors in an arresting visual atmosphere. This piece sets the tone for the exhibition, highlighting the relationship between light, color, and space, which is a recurring theme in Party’s work.

Upon ascending to the sixth-floor rooftop, visitors will encounter Party’s monumental installation “Docking.” Measuring 18 meters in width and 55 meters in length, this work conjures images of aircraft assembled on an enormous carrier or evokes the experience of walking across the deck of a large cruise ship. “Docking” reflects the artist’s experimentation with the transient nature of installation art, a genre that has risen to prominence since the 1970s. By blurring the lines between sculpture, architecture, and performance, the piece serves as both a standalone artwork and a stage for two scheduled performances. Party's work examines how installation art can engage with its audience, offering them not only an aesthetic experience but also a physical and emotional interaction with space.

A key aspect of this exhibition is Party’s engagement with art history and his exploration of both Western and Eastern artistic traditions. For this exhibition, he draws inspiration from the Leeum Museum of Art’s collection of traditional Korean art, creating dialogues that cross-cultural and temporal boundaries. Of particular note is Party's creation of eight new portraits of imaginary immortals, which take cues from the symbolic imagery in Kim Hong-Do’s Ten Longevity Symbols and Daoist Immortals, two masterpieces from the Joseon Dynasty. These new works delve into humanity’s enduring desire for immortality and longevity, juxtaposing traditional Korean themes with Party's contemporary artistic sensibilities.

In addition to his engagement with Korean art, Party weaves together symbols from a wide range of cultural sources. His artworks feature a rich interplay of natural and supernatural imagery, such as extinct dinosaurs, imaginary dragons, and humans merged with flowers, mushrooms, and meteorites. These fantastical elements evoke a tension between the romantic sublime and apocalyptic disaster, encouraging viewers to reflect on the precariousness of nature and civilization. By merging these symbols, Party prompts contemplation of the timeless flow of history, the relationship between humans and nature, and the finiteness of species.

The exhibition space itself plays a critical role in enhancing the visitor’s experience. Party has reimagined the layout of the first and second floors of the Hoam Museum, creating a maze of narrow corridors and spacious rooms. He incorporates arched doorways and faux marble, motifs that harken back to medieval architecture, crafting a unique architectural journey that connects each space. This design not only showcases his visual art but also transforms the space into a total, immersive environment. Party’s murals on the main lobby staircase and gallery walls complement this architectural vision, further blurring the boundaries between artwork and exhibition space.

Throughout the exhibition’s five-month run, the rooftop will serve as a platform for a series of performances and film screenings. These events include four dance films produced by the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, and five films about museums previously featured in MMCA Seoul’s Film & Video program, titled “What We Talk About When We Talk About Museum.” Moreover, interactive movement programs, such as “Here, Hello, Body!” for families, and the participatory contemporary dance performance “The Heat of Dance” by the Sungsoo Ahn Pick-up Group, will invite audiences to engage with art in new and dynamic ways. A crossover classical music concert featuring tenor Hyunhan Hwang, violinist Danny Koo, pianist James Jaewon Moon, and vibraphonist Hyunsang Yoon will round out the array of events, further blending the boundaries between art forms.

"Dust" thus offers visitors not just a visual spectacle but a multisensory experience, merging visual art, dance, music, and film into a cohesive narrative that challenges conventional notions of art exhibitions. Through this ambitious project, Nicolas Party invites us to rethink the role of pastels, space, and the ephemeral in both art and life. His unique ability to traverse genres and disciplines allows for a profound reflection on the transient nature of existence and the enduring legacy of art.

Sayart / Maria Kim, sayart2022@gmail.com