1. Nicolas Party
When making his brightly coloured portraits and still-life paintings, Swiss artist Nicolas Party mines art history for inspiration — and it shows. You can see the influence of Botero in his fleshy, round-faced subjects, the impact of Cézanne on his stripped-back still lifes and the mark of David Hockney in his continued use of vivid, fresh-from-the-bottle colours.
Like the artists of yore who inspire him, Party seems destined for great things. He’s not yet 40 but has already had a major solo exhibition at the esteemed Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington DC. Visit Xavier Hufkens' booth at Art Basel Hong Kong to see why international museums are snapping up his work.