Already as a child, Jockum Nordström devoted himself to collage. Or rather, that was what he did. Constantly occupied with cutting, pasting, drawing with pencils, ink, and crayons. Curiosity and the interplay between mind and hand—the challenge—have steadily driven his artistic practice forward. New exhibitions, new works, and travels, followed by more exhibitions.

In the work “Kusken,” we find the parquet floor–like motif that appears in several of his collages from the early 2000s. In 2013, Bukowskis sold the work “De fyra väderstrecken,” which features a similarly constructed motif. On that occasion, Jockum recounted:

“–It is one of my earliest collages. […] Some of the collage figures I made many years earlier, the girls who can be turned upside down like playing cards. I made a collage around the same time, even using the same technique. It is called ‘Kusken’ and later became the model for a rug for Märta Måås-Fjetterström.”

Märta Måås-Fjetterström’s advisory board selected Nordström’s “Kusken” as the textile artwork of the year in 2004 and created a rug based on his sketch. Later, Jockum also collaborated with Handarbetets Vänner.

The technique in this collage brings to mind a contemporary, advanced intarsia or a ceiling painting. Facades and architectural elements are recurring motifs in Nordström’s work. In the lower part of the piece, we see models of buildings reminiscent of Södersjukhuset in Stockholm, originally a functionalist structure nicknamed “Söder’s white pearl.” This type of sculptural element is something Jockum has often worked with over the years. They have been shown, among other places, in early exhibitions at Galleri Magnus Karlsson and in his exhibition at Liljevalchs Konsthall, “Inget papper, inga mynt,” in the spring of 2023. In “Kusken,” the austere buildings are combined with kurbits-inspired plants and trees. In the central rosette, the coachman sits alone on the driver’s seat; no horse is in sight.

Jockum Nordström is, among other places, represented at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, where he had a solo exhibition in 2005. Significant institutions such as Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; LAM, Lille; SFMOMA, San Francisco; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam also hold works by Nordström in their collections. He is represented by Galleri Magnus Karlsson (Stockholm), David Zwirner (New York/Los Angeles/London/Paris/Hong Kong), and TVLG (Antwerp/Rome).