Artist Profile

Nolan's paintings begin as conversations.
A line, a note, a symbol, a loose drawing, or a passing thought enters the surface and creates
something to respond to. From there, the painting develops through reaction. He covers things,
redraws them, writes over them, erases them, interrupts them, and sometimes leaves them exactly as
they first appear. The work grows through the back and forth rather than through a fixed plan.
He thinks of the surface as a record of thought in motion. Handwritten notes, fragments of language,
personal references, memories, corrections, codification and painterly gestures are allowed to
remain visible. They document not only what he is thinking about, but how his thinking changes while the painting is being made. That openness is important. He is drawn to the idea of provisionality; the possibility that a painting does not need to feel polished or fully resolved in order to feel complete. Raphael
Rubinstein’s writing on provisional paintings help give language to something I have already
been pursuing in the studio. There is value in hesitation, revision, vulnerability, and the
unfinished gesture.
My materials reinforce that process. Nolan begins with humble markers, pencil, charcoal, or
crayon, then introduce water, oil paint, oil stick, acrylic, and airbrush. Early marks may bleed,
disappear, or remain partially visible beneath later decisions. Some forms hover without a clear
ground. Words move in and out of abstraction. One gesture may support another or completely
work against it.
I do not try to hide those contradictions. They are often where the painting becomes most alive.
In many ways, these works are conversations with myself. They hold moments of confidence and
doubt, intention and accident, humor and frustration. The painting becomes a place where all of
those voices can exist at once.
He stops when the work no longer feels like it needs an answer, when the conversation has become interesting enough to leave alone.