Art to Live By: Transformations
This show will spark something in you. You might feel awe, surrounded by Party’s feats of color and scale. You might feel moved, seeing the echoes of generations of artists, pushing the boundaries of their forms. You might also be reminded of the murals in your own neighborhood. That’s the power o
It’s officially that part of spring where transformation is all around us. There is a shift to the light. Just like that, something new is here.
Transformation, however, isn’t sudden. Instead, it happens in the small moments of change worth beholding along the way. Waking to bird song. Leaving work before dusk. Smelling mud in the wind.
Murals are like that. Here in Manchester, it can seem like new murals arrive overnight. Yet, the signs of progress are there – the color, the brushstrokes, the people – shaping something real, well before we open our eyes to the transformation.
At the Currier, we recently commissioned New York-based artist Nicolas Party to create murals on the museum walls. They are the centerpiece of the Currier’s latest exhibition, Nicolas Party and Surrealism: An Artist’s Take on the Movement, which just opened.
This show is layered with stories of transformation. There’s the story of the curatorial team creating, in essence, a giant bubble where Party could work without disturbing neighboring rooms of art. There’s the story of Party’s love of pastels and how he created the murals from these smallest of creative tools. You can see that process in action in this video.
There’s also the story of artistic legacy and inspiration. One hundred years after the Surrealist Manifesto offered a new way of looking at the world, this show puts you at the center of a vibrant, fantastical conversation about what art can be.
As Party worked, the transformation in the gallery happened slowly and quickly. It was steadfast and deliberate, but also a little bit wild. Just like that, the space was different. And so were we.
This show will spark something in you. You might feel awe, surrounded by Party’s feats of color and scale. You might feel moved, seeing the echoes of generations of artists, pushing the boundaries of their forms.
You might also be reminded of the murals in your own neighborhood. That’s the power of murals – to stand in a space transformed and know someone like you made this place beautiful.
But it doesn’t just happen. Transformation requires the nourishment of your attention. Admire the living museum of your hometown. Be there for the brushstrokes and not just the finished masterpiece. Support organizations like Arts Build Community and Positive Street Art who make the biggest visions a reality.
And don’t forget to look up.
Nicolas Party and Surrealism: An Artist’s Take on the Movement is on view at the Currier Museum of Art through September 2025.
You can see the exhibition on April 17 at our next Art Off the Walls, a free event series bringing you fresh experiences inspired by art on the third Thursday evening of every month.
Ali Goldstein is a writer who first fell in love with art museums on a French class field trip to see a Degas exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Today, she is the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Currier Museum of Art, where she helps others take their first step into the arts. She can be reached at agoldstein@currier.org.