Nicola Tyson (b. 1960, London, England)

Nicola Tyson was born in 1960 in London, England. She attended Chelsea School of Art, St. Martins School of Art and Central/St. Martins School of Art 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 Tyson released the limited edition book Dead Letter Men, a collection of satirical letters addressing famous male artists.  The book was designed by Peter Miles and published by Petzel Gallery, New York and Sadie Coles HQ, London.  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 has mounted solo shows at The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2017); Sadie Coles HQ (2017); Nathalia Obadia, Paris (2015); Susanne Vielmetter Gallery, Los Angeles (2014); White Columns, New York (2012), numerous shows at Petzel Gallery (1995-2020), among others.

She has participated in group exhibitions at The Drawing Center, New York (2020); Susanne Vielmetter Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018); Skarstedt, New York (2016); Neue Galerie Graz, Austria (2015), and Wexner Center for the Arts (2013), among others.

Tyson’s work is included in major collections such as Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and Tate Modern, London.