randian | 燃点

The Galerie Nathalie Obadia is very pleased to hold a new solo exhibition by Nicola Tyson. On this occasion, the artist is presenting three paintings and a set of recent drawings, where we find the confrontation of her visual ambiguities.

In Self-portrait: Single Tear 2015, the artist’s perfectly round ‘head’ floats independent of her vertically dangling strands of hair. Her open mouth has fingers where teeth should be. A single tear is getting ready to fall from one of her animated, empty eyes.

The absurd has always been an important ingredient in Tyson’s approach: humor veering into the satirical, and often the hysterical. In Self-portrait: Weeping 2015 the artist references Picasso’s crying woman, but here it is her own experience that she describes. Nevertheless, her nose seems to double as a penis, literally ejaculating into her face. Looking at Art History frequently feels that way for the female viewer but Tyson’s surprised expression is also the steady gaze of self-assurance and artistic authority.

In Figure Waving 2015, a creature—part animal/part ‘woman’—coyly looks back at us, over its shoulder, whilst waving a giant cartoon-like hand. Is this a greeting or a farewell? Its other arm, meanwhile, sprouts ribbons of green vegetation, that agitatedly whip around in the air.

Does this trio of paintings depict grief, or relief? A bit of both probably. This is in fact the last group of paintings Tyson plans to make for now, as she is turning her attention to sculpture. Her long relationship with painting will be interrupted for a while.

Drawing, however, remains central to Tyson’s practice and included in the show are a group of seven small square graphite drawings. Since the beginning of 2015 Tyson has been posting a drawing a day on social media— #NicolaTysonadrawingaday—and has garnered quite a following. It is a great opportunity for Tyson to share—and get instant feedback—on work that would rarely get seen otherwise. Older work is interspersed with works made especially—such as the group exhibited here—for the instagram format — (nicola_tyson) which is square.

Nicola Tyson was born in 1960 in London, England. She attended Chelsea School of Art, St. Martins School of Art and Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London and currently lives and works in upstate New York.

Primarily known as a painter, Tyson has also worked with photography, film, performance and the written word. In 2011 she published in limited edition, in conjunction with Petzel Gallery, New York and Sadie Coles HQ, London, with design by Peter Miles, a collection of satirical letters to famous artists titled “Dead Letters Men”. Her unique archive of color photos documenting the London club scene of the late 1970’s —“Bowie Nights at Billy’s Club” —was the subject of shows, both in New York and London, in 2012 and 2013.

Tyson’s work is included in major collections such as Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; The Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C; and Tate Modern, London. She is represented by Petzel Gallery in New York and Sadie Coles HQ in London.