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For Immediate Release
July 7, 2010
Ex-Nuclear Engineer Unveils New Pilsen Art Studio
Contemporary Artist Daniel Nolan Hosts July 17 Reception, 6-10 pm
Nolan Studios
2150 S. Canalport Avenue, 5C-3, Chicago, IL 60608
773.704.3704
www.nolanstudios.com
Contact: Daniel Nolan, Artist/Owner
(Chicago, IL July 7, 2010) Change is difficult. Knowing which next step to take on the life path
can also be a challenge. For Chicago artist Daniel Nolan, a former nuclear engineer, the
journey from Corporate America to emerging artist was made easier when he channeled his
transitional emotions onto the canvas.
Works from the series “Personal Space”, “Doodle” and “Uncertainty & Ambiguity” will be on
display Saturday, July 17, as Nolan chronicles his personal trek, identity transformation, and
personal struggles of releasing the past and embracing an uncertain future. Many pieces also
contain examples of Nolan’s technical education and past. Nolan is hosting a reception to
celebrate the opening of his new studio is Chicago’s Pilsen Art District, exhibit his art, and
discuss his path.
Nolan is one of the few contemporary artists in Chicago working in the medium of pigmented
tinted resin, creating glassy, layered paintings that take on a nuanced sculptural form and
depth when complete. Prior to this medium, Nolan made a name for himself in Chicago as an
acrylic artist, working mainly in the genre of Pop Impressionism.
Nolan’s art career has blossomed over the last two years and he is now a full time visual
artist. Nolan’s work has been displayed in New York at the GLAAD NYC OutAuction exhibit as
well as throughout Chicago, including group shows at the Black Walnut/Robert Wayner Gallery,
Mars Gallery, Marc Rubin’s “Chicago Room” Gallery and Around the Coyote Gallery.
Nolan will be present at the Opening Art Studio Reception Saturday, July 17 from 6-10pm.
Daniel Nolan’s Bio is below.
Please contact Daniel Nolan for more information or high resolution images or visit www.
nolanstudios.com.
Daniel Nolan’s Bio
I create art because the act of taking an idea driven by inspiration and bringing it into reality
fills me. I experience a sensation of losing myself, my identity, my thoughts. Time and
occurrences around me disappear. Creating is a transcendent experience resulting in a material
item that did not previously exist.
Most of the paintings currently on exhibit at my studio were created during the past year when
I was acutely sensitive to the personal changes I was experiencing due to the transition from a
corporate to an artistic life. This includes personal identity, emotional growth and personal
struggles of releasing the past and embracing an uncertain future. All people eventually
experience major life changing circumstances where the future may be unclear. The emotions
and challenges are common to those in these situations. My hope is that we share a common
experience through the art work. In this work, I attempted to merge Modern and Post Modern
techniques using resin to create contemporary images with a reverence to the past.
My earliest memory of creating an art piece was during summer school between Kindergarten
and 1st grade. I did a simple craft project of decoupage paper on a glass jelly jar to create a
vase. I remember very clearly losing track of time and refusing to stop until the project was
complete. The biggest different between my childhood art projects and now is that I strive to
show my audience a piece of myself, to leave the viewer with an emotional impact, or ask a
question for the viewer to ponder.
I began my professional career as a nuclear engineer that spoke to my analytical and
mathematical side. Throughout my corporate career, I painted. The time spent painting
increased over the years. In many of my works, evidence of my attraction to structure,
organization and mathematical representation of space and time can be clearly seen. In
others, there is a distinct attempt to avoid the analytical approaching emotional abstract
expressionism.
My work is tending towards the more experimental, in the sense that I like to experiment. It is
playful and I have no idea of the outcome. I like asking the question “what if?” The results
often surprise me. As I mature and evolve as an artist, my goal is that my art becomes more
personally reflected and can ELICIT an emotional response from the viewer. I want the viewer
to leave questioning or contemplating things and ideas which they have not challenged in the
past.
A series of 4 smaller paintings that will be included at the July opening are based on the
concept of uncertainty. The inspiration of the pieces came from artwork that I noticed at a
Starbucks I have frequented for years. For some reason, I noticed the prints on the wall
differently, or at least, they felt and seemed differently. To be honest, I don’t actually care for
the images but they were calling me. I became obsessed and studied them. I was inspired. I
decided the next morning I would begin my interpretation of them. I was uncertain however of
how they would look or if the technique I was trying would prove satisfying. The series was
“up in the air” and I felt a deep sense of uncertainty to continue but did so nonetheless. The
result was 4 paintings that do not resemble the inspiration print at all but capture
“uncertainty.” A personal impact of these paintings is how I can learn to embrace uncertainty
and allow things to unfold naturally, mistakes and all, to reveal an unexpected and often
unanticipated destination.
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Copyright 2010
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