Annabel Nowlan’s art is distilled from her exposure to and experiences of life on the land. JOSEPH BRENNAN explores the links.

While the Roman poet Ovid in 8 AD wrote in his Metamorphoses “Nature in her genius had imitated art”, Aristotle, some 358 years earlier, suggested in his Poetics that “we learn to create beauty by catching the clue from nature”. The works of Victorian artist Annabel Nowlan support Aristotle’s view of art — taking their cues from nature.

Although she says she finds it difficult to describe her works — because they sit somewhere between abstraction and illustration and often address obscure and evocative concepts — Annabel believes her art is nonetheless “identifiable as being connected to the land”, primarily because of the materials, surfaces and colours she uses. Similarly, her sister — journalist Sally Nowlan — described her works as a “first-hand understanding of relationships she formed when farming on land that’s been in her family for five generations”.

To read more of this item and others, subscribe now (you will receive the latest issue) or simply order Issue 22 of aAR by clicking here.

Image: Annabel Nowlan, The weight of history ii, 2009, mixed media on ply, 122 x 166cm. Courtesy the artist.