Question of Taste: Cork-based artist Aoife Nolan

Chagall, Sufjan Stevens and David McWilliams feature among Aoife's selections

Thu, 26 Jan, 2023 - 02:00

Des O’Driscoll

Aoife Nolan is a visual artist, originally from Navan, Co Meath, but based in Cork for many years. A graduate of MTU Crawford College of Art and Design, she has a studio residency at Sample-Studios and is an associate member of Backwater Artists Network. Her first solo exhibition Family Album, opens January 26th at the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion in Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork, with the support of Sample-Studios, running until March 11.

Best recent book
The Tree, John Fowles. Not a recent book (1979) but read recently. Fowles details the sometimes uneasy dynamic between himself and his father with great tenderness and fluid prose, paralleling how the two men move through the world in line with how each relates to trees in particular, nature in general. A short easy read with great depth of heart.

Best recent exhibition you've seen:
Defiance and Obedience, a retrospective of Paula Rego at IMMA 2020-21. To be confronted with the scale and deeply personal visual story telling throughout Rego’s work was a privilege. My daughter and I were delighted to contribute to a short film about the exhibition, directed by Gar O’Rourke.

Best recent gig
Sorely lacking in this department and feeling the loss. Macy Gray at Cyprus Avenue Cork is the last gig I’ve been to. Looking forward to seeing as much theatre and live music as I can this summer.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old)

Cosmo Sheldrake has been on repeat while making recent work, as his themes are nature and wildlife related and feed into the concepts within my artwork. I often refer back to Sufjan Stevens, he’s liable to do anything.

First ever piece of art that really moved you
I saw a small collection of works by Marc Chagall in Amsterdam when I was 18. This was the first time I understood the importance of being in the presence of art, as opposed to looking at images and reading about it. The depth of colour and blending, the way Chagall’s figures performed a hazy dance with each other on the canvas, had been missing from the printed reproductions I’d seen up to that point.

The best exhibition you've ever seen (if you had to pick one!)
Venice Biennale is probably a copout answer as it’s more a festival than exhibition but the 53rd Biennale ‘Making Worlds’ in 2009 was jaw-dropping. A continuous display of the world’s best, followed by ‘après art’ nights on the town which of course is part of the deal.

The same trip, we took an unplanned detour into Gallerie dell Accademia, just because we happened to be passing, and found ourselves face to face with Leonardo di Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, all to ourselves. No sign outside, no trumpets, no special ticket, we were speechless. Again, the importance of being in the presence of art, no print reproduction could come close, DaVinci’s drawing seemed to vibrate over 500 years later.

Tell us about your TV viewing
I don’t have a television. These days I revert to streaming. Season two of The White Lotus was shamelessly binge-watched over Christmas.

Jennifer Coolidge, centre, in a scene from season two of White Lotus.

Radio listening and/or podcasts
David McWilliams is a favourite, his explanation of economics as a barometer of human behaviour and ‘chat down the pub’ presentation style with John Davis makes for easy listening. Mystery Train with John Kelly on Lyric FM, Shazaming what I like, then reverting back to that list for future listening.

You're curating your dream exhibition – which three artists are on the bill, living or dead?
Not for the art per se, but for the artist’s talk and ‘in conversation with’ which I would programme as curator; Irish counterparty artist Laura Fitzgerald, David Bowie and Leonardo DaVinci. I’d love to know if DaVinci had a sense of humour - Fitzgerald and Bowie definitely do. Bowie and DaVinci could swap capes like footballers swap jerseys.

Your best celebrity encounter
I’ve encountered many well know people in a professional capacity while working in costume. Graham Norton came to the set of Holding [TV series] where I did a brief stint, he shared an eye wateringly hilarious story, the type of story where you're struggling to stop laughing for fear of missing a detail. When I retold ‘the same’ story there was a different reaction. There’s a reason he’s a famous chat show host and writer.

You can portal back to any cultural event or art era – where, when, and why?
It felt like there was a shift in our national culture when Ireland repealed the 8th in 2018, I’d like to visit that again now that I’ve processed the event. Art-era wise, I’d like to stay up all night drinking coffee and brewing plans with [feminist artists] Guerrilla Girls in 1980s New York.

In your own life, have you been doing anything in particular in relation to climate change, biodiversity, etc?
One small thing; I started growing veg. Nothing could have prepared me for the pleasure of it. I used to be scared of the idea of gardening, now I look forward to it. There have been so many unexpected positive side effects from growing vegetables, I can honestly say it has added to my life.