Isabel Nolan

* This edition is a pre-order and will be shipped from late June.

Liverpool Biennial is delighted to announce the release of ‘A solitary sun for a medieval time’ by Liverpool Biennial 2025: ‘BEDROCK’ artist Isabel Nolan.

This limited edition lithograph print depicts a vibrantly colourful drawing that inspired the artist’s hand tufted rug ‘“The sky is not bounded by a fixed edge!”: an illuminated rug arranged to accommodate a medieval mind.’ (2014). This work was first shown as part of the artist’s ‘The Weakened Eye of Day’ exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.

‘A solitary sun for a medieval time’ (2025) is inspired by Nolan’s interest in ecclesiastical architecture and aesthetics, and drawing the present, real and imagined together. The edition relates to Nolan’s Liverpool Biennial 2025: ‘BEDROCK’ exhibition, which features similar arches inspired by historical and current cathedrals in Liverpool: Sir Edwin Lutyen’s unfinished Roman Catholic Cathedral, of which only a crypt exists due to post-war lack of funds, St Nicolas Pro-Cathedral, which was built in 1813, and the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King , which replaced St Nicolas’ in 1967 and still stands there today.

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, Nolan’s work responds to how we make reality happen through science, philosophy, religion, and art. 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. In 2026, Nolan will represent Ireland at the 61st Venice Biennale, with Georgina Jackson and The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art as the curator and Cian O’Brien as producer.

Isabel Nolan ‘A solitary sun for a medieval time’, 2025. Limited edition lithograph print, courtesy of Liverpool Biennial  Printing by The Lemonade Press. Photos ©Robin Clewley

The sale of Limited Editions directly supports Liverpool Biennial’s new commissions, exhibitions, talks and education programmes.

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