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. Showing at John Lennon Art and Design Building, Liverpool John Moores University: Isabel Nolan
'Where you are, what we are, with others' 2025
Showing at John Lennon Art and Design Building, Liverpool John Moores University: Isabel Nolan
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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.
Liverpool Biennial 2025
Isabel Nolan at Walker Art Gallery
Isabel Nolan’s art is inspired by, as she explains “the calamity, the weirdness, horror, brevity and wonder of existing alongside billions of other preoccupied humans”. It explores how the chaos of the world is made beautiful or given meaning through human activity. Nolan draws inspiration from a wide array of sources including religious artefacts, architectural plans, and diverse historical figures – literary, scientific and spiritual. Underpinned by a longstanding interest in patterns of human behaviour, Nolan’s artistic research results in work that is both very personal and relatable.
‘Eurydice (dead again…) and Orpheus’ (2022) depicts the newlyweds from Greek mythology separated by Eurydice’s untimely death. The title focuses on Eurydice’s thwarted resurrection from the depths of Hades, rather than the grief
Isabel Nolan’s art is inspired by, as she explains “the calamity, the weirdness, horror, brevity and wonder of existing alongside billions of other preoccupied humans”. It explores how the chaos of the world is made beautiful or given meaning through human activity. Nolan draws inspiration from a wide array of sources including religious artefacts, architectural plans, and diverse historical figures – literary, scientific and spiritual. Underpinned by a longstanding interest in patterns of human behaviour, Nolan’s artistic research results in work that is both very personal and relatable. ‘Eurydice (dead again…) and Orpheus’ (2022) depicts the newlyweds from Greek mythology separated by Eurydice’s untimely death. The title focuses on Eurydice’s thwarted resurrection from the depths of Hades, rather than the grief and guilt of the preternaturally gifted musician Orpheus. The three tapestries draw on architecture and miraculous events depicted in paintings of St Francis by the early-Renaissance artist Sasseta. ‘Miracle of Fire’ imagines the aftermath of a conversion tale – the supernatural flames burn on long after the protagonists have departed the scene. The same classical building, hundreds of years in the future, is overwhelmed by water in ‘Miracle wave, 2698 C.E’. The intact wave, long after it was first described shrouding St Cuthbert as he prayed in the North Sea off the holy island of Lindisfarne, is envisaged as travelling for centuries. ‘The wolf who made a city tremble c.1216 (After Sassetta)’ (2024) imagines the ‘Wolf of Gubbio’ before it began its murderous attacks on the citizenry of the Tuscan town. Eventually it was appeased and forgiven by Saint Francis of Assisi, resulting in a miraculous pact made between the Saint, the animal and the townspeople. The artist is fascinated by the way in which such strange events are normalised in artworks and religious narrative, and has been inspired in selecting these works by the Walker Art Gallery’s Medieval (Room 1), and Renaissance (Room 1 & 2) collection rooms. Showing at Walker Art Gallery
Isabel Nolan at Walker Art Gallery
Showing at Walker Art Gallery
Daily 10am–5pm-
Isabel Nolan at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial 2025. Photography by Stuart Whipps.
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Isabel Nolan at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial 2025. Photography by Stuart Whipps.
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Isabel Nolan at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Biennial 2025. Photography by Stuart Whipps.
Venue
Walker Art Gallery
William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8ELAccess facilities available
View venue
Venue
John Lennon Art and Design Building, Liverpool John Moores University: Isabel Nolan
2 Duckinfield St, Liverpool L3 5RD View venue