Untitled #48 1997

Nicola Tyson made this drawing, Untitled #48, with graphite on paper. The build-up of marks and the lack of colour directs you to the process of its making. It’s all about lines, and how they can build up form, almost like the hand of the artist is wrapping around a form, trying to capture it. The whole figure is rendered with these cross-hatching marks. The marks are loose and gestural, they give it a kind of animated quality. Look at how the graphite is layered to create depth and shadow, especially around the head and torso. It's not just about describing what's there, it's about feeling it. It reminds me a bit of Francis Picabia, how he would build up images out of simple lines and geometric shapes, a kind of abstraction that still feels grounded in the body. Like Tyson, Picabia invites us to see the world in new ways, to embrace the weirdness and the ambiguity.