NYAB Event - Nicola Tyson “Works on Paper”

Nicola Tyson “Works on Paper”

Petzel Gallery (35 E 67th St.)

[Image: Nicola Tyson "Portrait Head #35" (2003) Acrylic on paper, 20 x 14 in.]

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Petzel Gallery presents an exhibition of works by New York based, British artist Nicola Tyson. This is her tenth solo exhibition with the gallery.

For Nicola Tyson, drawing is a distinct and generative practice, allowing full imaginative exploration. In her own words: “When I begin to draw, I have no idea what’s going to appear. I work swiftly, to stay just ahead of the cage of language, the linear mind and rational decision-making. I just let the forms grow themselves—self-organize …”.

Nicola Tyson Works on Paper explores a range of works made between 2002 and 2016 from the artist’s sketchbook pages to large graphite drawings and giant, life-sized ink drawings. Included also are a selection of her acrylic paintings on paper, titled “Portrait Heads”. In these, the artist first paints the image directly onto a glass plate, then pressing paper onto it, produces varying textures and besmirched hues. All the works in the show attest to a gestural freedom, capturing moods and moments, both visceral and artificial, intimate and performative, in curious, fluid figurations.

Petzel Gallery, New York, has published an accompanying catalog to this exhibition featuring over seventy-five images. Nicola’s wry humor and sense of playfulness can be seen not only in her work, but also in the essay “Nicola Tyson Interviews Herself,” found at the back of the book. It is a candid examination of Nicola’s influences, processes, and explains her fascination with the word FROCK — “a vacant muse”. This self-conducted interview taps into the tradition of writing and performance that prominently flows through the artist’s diverse practice. A limited edition of the catalog is available which includes a signed linocut “selfie” by the artist.

Nicola Tyson’s work is in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; The Corcoran Gallery of Art at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C; UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Tate Gallery, London. In 2010 she was nominated for the Royal Academy’s prestigious Charles Wollaston Award.