About the work

Drawing is a huge part of my practice. I work intuitively and don’t know what I am about to draw until it begins to appear on the page, I then let it grow itself. I’m interested in conjuring up a presence—be it human, animal, landscape or a hybrid of all three. However, not an illusion of presence, as in an illustration, but presence manifested by the act of drawing in pencil where something is captured, but we are always aware that it’s just pencil markings on paper we are looking at.

Date and country of birth

1960, GB

Career Highlights

My work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum and The Guggenheim Museum in the USA and TATE Modern in the UK, among others. I am represented by Petzel Gallery in New York and Sadie Coles HQ in London and have exhibited with both for almost 30 years. In April 2024 Petzel Gallery will be staging an exhibition of paintings from the 1990s and in January 2025 an exhibition of new paintings. “Nicola Tyson – Selected Paintings 1993-2022” has just been published.