Nic Nicosia's 'Everyday Surreal' at Nasher Sculpture Center Traces Shift from Photography to Sculpture

Nic Nicosia, long known for staged photography as part of the Pictures Generation, is preparing for his largest museum exhibition since 2000. Titled 'Everyday Surreal', the show opens May 16, 2026 at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and runs through August 16, 2026. It features over 70 works including sculptures, drawings, photographs, and films, with a focus on his sculptural practice developed after he moved away from photography in the early 2000s. Nicosia rose to prominence in the 1980s with surreal, theatrical images, appearing in the 1983 Whitney Biennial alongside Cindy Sherman, Eileen Cowin, and Ellen Brooks. His work was also featured in 'Image Fabrique' at Centre Pompidou (1983) and Documenta IX (1992). By the early 2000s, he withdrew from the public art world, shifted to solitary studio work, and began constructing models and sculptural objects. The exhibition, curated by Jed Morse and Sydney Smith, is the first major retrospective of his sculpture and drawing. Nicosia describes it as defining his art as conceptual and showing his progression from a strict photographic practice.