Viewing Nicola Tyson: Holding Pattern

Nicola Tyson’s absorbing, psychologically complex paintings are all about the ‘embodied experience’. And nowhere can you see this more clearly than in her new solo show at Sadie Coles in Davies Street. Drawing on artistic forebears as diverse as Maria Lassnig, Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso, Tyson deftly balances figuration with abstraction to explore the interplay of perception, thought and feeling.

On display are nine new paintings and three groups of graphite drawings. What strikes is Tyson’s bright, clashing colour palette: brilliant reds, vibrant yellows and emerald greens applied in bold segments abound. As do fragmented body parts and ambivalent forms.

Highlights include Self-Portrait Pencil (2021) and Hair piece (2021), featuring an abstract head with a singular recessed eye. In this latest body of work, Tyson continues her investigations into psychology and anatomy, surface and depth, fixity and metamorphosis.

At once recognisable yet peculiar, these compositions intrigue and perplex in equal measure. That’s what Frieze Week is all about, right?