The modernist architectural structure which occupies the centre of Jockum Nordström’s 2024 monoprints appears unstable, as if it could tip over to one side at any second. The building’s straight, geometric lines contrast with the oversized figures in old fashioned clothes that occupy the image’s foreground, moving past like spirits from another time. Nordström grew up in the city; as a child he was fascinated by the changing cityscape with high-rise buildings growing into the sky like trees. This interest in architectural structures as elements of an urban landscape continues to inform his artistic practice.

Nordström’s monoprints are unique prints using etched plates on which individual marks are added before each print is made. He combines painterly marks with fine etched lines to create his engaging and distinctive images. The fields of surprisingly bright, contrasting oil paint enrich the images, and the resulting colour fields create a visual theme which connects the image’s contrasting elements. In Nordström’s hands, colour becomes the mediator between the old-fashioned nostalgia of a fairy tale and the cool rigour of architectural modernism; it bridges the gap between disparate aesthetic universes and historic epochs.