Nolan's paintings begin as conversations.A line, a note, a symbol, a loose drawing, or a passing thought enters the surface and createssomething 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 asthey 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 toremain 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. RaphaelRubinstein’s writing on provisional paintings help give language to something I have alreadybeen pursuing in the studio. There is value in hesitation, revision, vulnerability, and theunfinished gesture.My materials reinforce that process. Nolan begins with humble mar...
