Jockum Nordström started drawing at a very young age. Although he dreamt of becoming a sailor, he went on to study art at the college where his father was a professor. That same year, he staged his first exhibition. Nordström is known in Sweden as the author and illustrator of the children’s book series ‘Sailor och Pekka’, about a sailor and his dog. Later he became more widely known nationally with his illustrations for the music section of the magazine ‘Dagens Nyheter’. He made his international breakthrough in 2000.
Nordström creates a world for himself, one in which time seems to stand still and the logic of time and space is set aside. His disarmingly charming oeuvre seems to be characterised by improvisation and spontaneity and encompasses collages, drawings and watercolours, architectural sculptures in paper, cardboard and matchboxes, carpets, animated films and designs for record sleeves. He is also an esteemed guitar and bass player on the jazz scene. The stories he portrays have an open structure and resemble dreams. In around 2017, he also exhibited abstract collages for the first time. Nordström’s figurative work is often associated with outsider art. He does not regard this as a censure, because he makes no distinction between professionally trained artists and untrained amateurs. Both share the vocation to create something highly personal and develop their own language to this end.
