Friedrich Petzel Gallery is pleased to announce the seventh solo exhibition of works by Nicola Tyson. On view will be a selection of sketchbook drawings from 2001 to the present.

Widely known for her paintings that lay bare psychological complexity and depth balanced between figuration and abstraction, Tyson considers her drawings a distinct practice that allows for the exploration of the imagination and unconscious through a kind of focused free-association. All of Tyson’s work begins in her sketchbook, and while some of her drawings lend themselves to further development into paintings, others are complete, successfully capturing moments, states of mind and mood through her use of the sinuous line.

Tyson’s drawings have a gestural freedom and immediacy that simultaneously open up spatial and psychological dimensions. The figures that inhabit these works – human, animal and sometimes curious amalgamations – are at times grounded in a landscape or at other moments left to float free on the page. There is an attendant and intimate care that imbues Tyson’s drawings combined with a certain sense of play that reveals the artist’s wry sense of humor. Whereas Tyson’s paintings of reduced, abstracted figures are sometimes considered enigmatic, her drawings are striking for their clarity, spontaneity and intimacy.