‘There’s a self-portrait in every single thing I do. Even if I make a tree or a sex-scene, I can play the both of them’
Images seem to pour forth from Jockum Nordström. He is an immensely prolific artist uses who uses a whole variety of techniques. More than anything though he is a cutter of shapes. They may be fleshed out with colour but it is the idiosyncrasy of their contours which sticks in the mind.
An initial impression of charming naivety is quickly dispelled when you move in closer. The images seem to float outside the limitations of a particular epoch although some figures look like they could have struggled through an ancient mist. The timelessness of a fairy tale, yes, but with a portion of extra malevolence thrown in.
The most ambitious work is the cinematic tableau The Anchor Hits the Sand, which fills a whole wall of this beautiful gallery. It has some of the qualities of an old-fashioned lantern show: made of transparent paper behind which vivid animal and human shapes sweep forwards, before receding once again.
Nordström is an unusual artist: at least I have never seen anything like his work before. When I left the gallery. I realised the extent of the attention which his work had demanded. I felt depleted but also buoyed up by its brilliance.
Jockum Nordström The Anchor hits the Sand is at David Zwirner, 24 Grafton Street, London W1S 4EZ until 19 December.
