The artist Nicola Tyson, whose twisted figures are currently on display at Friedrich Petzel were called “Lily Pulitzer meets a concentration camp” by one admirer at the opening, will hold a performance at that gallery on October 6 during which she will read letters to her forebears, among them Francis Bacon, Thomas Gainsborough and James Ensor. Read More
The characters that Nicola Tyson paints begin as quick sketchbook drawings and look like soap figurines who’ve taken too many baths. Their extremities are reduced to basic indications and look like the ovals from a drawing class. But while drawing-class ovals support the exploration of some particular model’s anatomy, Ms. Tyson’s ovals are bent primarily on exploring themselves, their own curves and crossings. There is an anatomy being portrayed, but it’s the artist’s own, the force of her tendons, her arm’s range of motion. The mystery of cognition takes the place of ex nihilo creation. Read More
The new works by Nicola Tyson at Friedrich Petzel Gallery last night featured colorful, twisted figures whose bodies were all emotion, as if they were built in a lab for the sole purpose of having awkward encounters.
One painting, Couple, seemed to feature a faceless woman, shyly holding an arm behind her back as she Read More
