Jockum Nordström A stick in the wood

The Swedish artist Jockum Nordström´s (b. 1963) drawings and collages are like narratives that stretch from secret fantasies to the intrusive realities of everyday life. The pictures traverse time and space, mixing high and low to create idiosyncratic micro-worlds where "levels of time are stacked on top of one another", as Nordström himself describes it.

Moderna Museet is proud to present Jockum Nordström's first large-scale solo exhibition. Jockum Nordström was born in 1963 in Stockholm, where he works and lives. His art has received wide international acclaim and his drawings and collages have been exhibited all over the world.

The Armory Show, the international fair of new art in New York, has commissioned Jockum Nordström to create original artwork for all visual materials and publications associated with the Armory Show 2005.

Lars Nittve, Museum Director, Moderna Museet wrote in the Armory Show Press release: "Jockum Nordström has reclaimed two of the most modest techniques - drawing and collage - to achieve an entirely contemporary expression. It´s perfectly natural, when you think about it. What he gives us are stories for grown ups. Dreamy, fabulating, full of leaps from one world or era to the next - and always with an erotic charge. You get the feeling that he makes these pictures for himself. Only. And that we just happen to spot them. That´s how intimate, how personal, they are - while still being so generous."

Jockum Nordström's inimitable imagery creates a unique and very special world, composed of modernist architecture, animals and plants, people involved in sexual activities and figures from 19th century bourgeois settings with calashes and period furniture. He mixes impressions from the great masters with naivist, popular drawing and collage techniques. The exquisite composition of his images bear witness to a profound aesthetic awareness. Despite the often bizarre content, Jockum Nordström's images do not appear dark or blithe. The peculiar scenes exude naturalness.

As Sweden's most important institution for modern and contemporary art, Moderna Museet possesses a unique expertise and access to Jockum Nordström's art. The exhibition has been realised in close cooperation with the artist. Jockum Nordström has also put his personal touch on the catalogue, not only in the selection of the images but also in the choice of texts and poetry. The catalogue will be available in English at all venues. The exhibition features approximately 25 drawings and as many collages and two new works specially made for the exhibition: a long collage, which Jockum Nordström calls a 'wallpaper', and a pack of cards with images by the artist. The pack of cards will be on display in the exhibition and is printed for resale in the museum shop.

Pressetext

Jockum Nordström "A stick in the wood"
Kuratorin: Annika Gunnarsson