This catalogue documents Trial Balloon's 1992 show, "Part Fantasy–The sexual imagination of seven lesbian artists explored through the medium of drawing." Trial Balloon was a short-lived NYC gallery helmed by Nicola Tyson with a curatorial focus on female artists, specifically priveliging queer voices. Despite Trial Balloon's relatively short life, the gallery maintians a strong influence and relevancy in the contemporary art world.
Contributors: Nicola Tyson, Faye Hirsch
Publisher: Trial Balloon, 1993
Language: English
Softcover: 32 pages
9 x 7.5 in
About the artist
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 2023, Nicola Tyson: Selected Painitngs 1993-2022 was published. In 2011, Tyson released the limited-edition book Dead Letter Men, which is a collection of satirical letters addressing famous male artists. 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 Petzel Gallery, New York (2024); Sadie Coles HQ, London (2021); The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis (2017); The Drawing Room, London (2017); Nathalia Obadia, Paris (2015); Susanne Vielmetter Gallery, Los Angeles (2014); White Columns, New York (2012), among others.
She has participated in group exhibitions at White Cube, Paris (2023); Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles (2023); The Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, Fort Worth (2022); Capitain Petzel, Berlin (2022); Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (2021); The Drawing Room, London (2021); 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.
