Isabel Nolan’s work responds to big, often abstract, ideas with intimacy and materiality.
2025 Biennial Year Find out more
Whether fixating on the knees of a C17th sculpture, or considering the status of a Neolithic artefact, images of deep space or the contingent grandeur of Gothic architecture, the work responds to how we make reality happen through science, philosophy, religion, and art. Nolan’s practice is materially expansive, matching the scope and scale of her varied interests; encompassing architectural, steel, sculptures, handmade objects, tapestries, water-based oil paintings, pencil drawings or texts. Working thus, Nolan looks for ways to sidestep the, often arbitrary, nature of authority, to like, or even love, the difficult and complex human world we’ve made.
Nolan’s most recent exhibitions include solos at ‘499 Seconds’ Chateau La Coste, Aix-en-Provence, France, 2023; ‘Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan and Derelict’, Void, Derry, 2022-23; and a two-person show ‘Material Flux’ with Aleana Egan at Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, 2024. Nolan’s work featured in EVA international 2018; and LIAF Biennial, Lofoten, 2015. Recent monographs include ‘A delicate bond which is also a gap’ 2024, published by Solstice Arts Centre, Navan; ‘Curling up with Reality’ 2020, published by Launchpad, London & Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. Nolan’s work is in the collections of Arts Council of Ireland, TATE Modern, UK; National Gallery of Ireland; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Nasher Collection, Dallas; Irish Museum of Modern Art.
Nolan is represented by Kerlin Gallery, Dublin
Liverpool Biennial 2025
'Where you are, what we are, with others' 2025
Isabel Nolan draws inspiration from a diverse range of different sources to create her artwork, including religious relics, architectural plans, literary and historical figures, and human and animal behaviour. These artistic investigations are driven by intensive research, but the result is always deeply personal and open to different interpretations.
This new public sculpture is based on plans for stained-glass windows found in local archives. The designs are inspired by two historic Liverpool Cathedrals – St Nicholas’ Pro-Cathedral and Lutyen’s Crypt at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.
Built in 1813, St Nicholas’ stood on Copperas Hill and served as Liverpool’s Catholic Pro-Cathedral until 1967 – the upright section of Nolan’s work is loyal to the original tracery
Isabel Nolan draws inspiration from a diverse range of different sources to create her artwork, including religious relics, architectural plans, literary and historical figures, and human and animal behaviour. These artistic investigations are driven by intensive research, but the result is always deeply personal and open to different interpretations. This new public sculpture is based on plans for stained-glass windows found in local archives. The designs are inspired by two historic Liverpool Cathedrals – St Nicholas’ Pro-Cathedral and Lutyen’s Crypt at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Built in 1813, St Nicholas’ stood on Copperas Hill and served as Liverpool’s Catholic Pro-Cathedral until 1967 – the upright section of Nolan’s work is loyal to the original tracery of the east window. The other half is geometric – reminiscent of the windows in Lutyen’s Crypt, which sits beneath the existing Metropolitan Cathedral. The Crypt is all that remains of an earlier design for the building, after plans were redeveloped following financial issues due to WW2. Lying here on its side, the piece might evoke ideas of architectural ruins, yet the bright colours – a nod to stained glass and industrial steelwork palettes – suggest possibility and ambition. For Nolan, the piece attempts to claim space for these buildings that have ultimately been lost, or which represent that which was never realised – repurposing something once functional to reflect on rich histories of Liverpool. The piece draws the past and present, the real and imagined, together. Courtesy of the artist and Kerlin Gallery. Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, with support from Art Fund and Culture Ireland This work is currently located at the John Lennon Art and Design Building at John Moores University.
'Where you are, what we are, with others' 2025
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Isabel Nolan, ‘Where you are, what we are, with others’, 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at the John Lennon Art & Design Building, LJMU. Photography by Rob Battersby.
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Isabel Nolan, ‘Where you are, what we are, with others’, 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at the John Lennon Art & Design Building, LJMU. Photography by Rob Battersby.
Venue
Walker Art Gallery
William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8ELAccess facilities available
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Venue
John Lennon Art and Design Building, Liverpool John Moores University: Isabel Nolan
2 Duckinfield St, Liverpool L3 5RD View venue