Isabel Nolan
Kerlin Gallery is delighted to announce
Spaced Out,
an exhibition of new paintings and rugs
by Isabel Nolan.
For the world to be verified, 2021
water-based oil on canvas
170 x 140 x 2.5 cm / 66.9 x 55.1 x 1 in
Miracle of Fire, 2021
hand-tufted 100% New Zealand Wool, 12 mm pile
300 x 224 cm / 118.1 x 88.2 in
Et sic in infinitum (and so on...) 2021
water-based oil on canvas
170 x 140 x 2.5 cm / 66.9 x 55.1 x 1 in
When the sky above will not be named, 2021
hand-tufted 100% New Zealand Wool, 12 mm pile
292 x 538.5 cm / 115 x 212 in
Into the world’s greater volume, 2020-21
water-based oil on canvas
60 x 70 cm / 23.6 27.6 in
I am nothing but lilies and roses 2020-21
water-based oil on canvas
40 x 50 x 2 cm / 15.7 x 19.7 x .8 in
When the sky above will not be named, 2021
hand-tufted 100% New Zealand Wool, 12 mm pile
292 x 538.5 cm / 115 x 212 in
Isabel Nolan has an expansive practice that incorporates sculptures, paintings, textile works, photographs, writing and works on paper. Her subject matter is similarly comprehensive, taking in cosmological phenomena, religious reliquaries, Greco-Roman sculptures and literary/historical figures, examining the behaviour of humans and animals alike. These diverse artistic investigations are driven by intensive research, but the end result is always deeply personal and subjective.
Exploring the “intimacy of materiality”, Nolan’s work ranges from the architectural – steel sculptures that frame or obstruct our path – to small handmade objects in clay, hand-tufted wool rugs illuminated with striking cosmic imagery, to drawings and paintings using humble gouache or colouring pencils. In concert, they feel equally enchanted by and afraid of the world around us, expressing humanity’s fear of mortality and deep need for connection as well as its startling achievements in art and thought. Driven by “the calamity, the weirdness, horror, brevity and wonder of existing alongside billions of other preoccupied humans”, her works give generous form to fundamental questions about the ways the chaos of the world is made beautiful or given meaning through human activity.
For the world to be verified, 2021
water-based oil on canvas
170 x 140 x 2.5 cm / 66.9 x 55.1 x 1 in
Isabel Nolan - Curling up with reality
Isabel Nolan’s recent publication ‘Curling up with reality’ brings together a survey of her work over the last decade. Published by Launchpad, London and Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, in association with Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin the book also features 20 of Nolan’s writings which explore everything from the work of fellow artists Willie Doherty and Garret Phelan to atomic aesthetics and personal musings about the fictional Tony Soprano in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Edited by Gerrie van Noord
Texts by Isabel Nolan
Designed by Tony Waddingham
Isabel Nolan has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Mercer Union, Toronto; London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE, London; Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin; IMMA, Dublin; Kunstverein Graz, Austria; Kunstverein Langenhagen, Germany and Musée d’art moderne de Saint Etienne, France.
Nolan has participated in international group exhibitions and biennales including the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; Lofoten International Arts Festival (LIAF); Mediations Biennale, Poznan; Yugoslav Biennale of Young Artists, Vršac, Serbia; Glasgow International and EVA International Limerick.
With thanks to Solstice Arts Centre, Navan.
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out
Isabel Nolan
Spaced Out