He was much inspired by Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Jacques Lipchitz.
His first solo show was at the Dublin Painters Gallery in 1963, and he was an active member in the establishment of the Project Arts Centre in Abbey Street in 1966–67.
[5] Notable commissions include one for Scott Tallon Walker Architects, an 18-foot long work for University College Galway, and an outdoor sculpture for Mayo County Council.
Nolan, along with colleagues Seán Hillen and Dermot Seymour, was featured in a 2005 exhibition of Irish artists hosted by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.
He also wrote an unpublished humorous play, in which Eratosthenes' ancient Greek quest to calculate the circumference of the Earth is placed in a Dublin context.