My practice makes use of discarded materials imbued with history and memory. Recent works speak of the evolution of memory as assemblages of human consumption.
Most of my works reflect the transformation of fragments of the past into pieces of the present, converging once loved domestic artifacts, through a process of alchemy. The dominant material I use is Linoleum, I am drawn to its historical décor, how human movement imparts impressions upon its surface, leaving yet another level of memory
Pianola rolls are used for their perforations, alluding to binary coding or ancient mystical scribing.
These can suggest technological development and the impact of various rays penetrating our air-spaces or texts written in light words which interpret magic.
The thematic concepts in my works reflect contemporary issues such as climate change, socio-political concerns and the impact we are making on the environment.
Anna Nordström was born in Sweden 1960. She studied art at JCU in Townsville, SCU in Lismore and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY.
She lives and works in Lismore, NSW.
Anna has exhibited widely in Australia, in Sweden, NYC and was awarded bronze medal at Florence Biennale 2019 for her Mixed Media work.
Moving Through Time is the first Victorian exhibition of the work of Anna Nordström, an artist from Lismore in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.
Nordström trained as a sculptor in the 1990’s. The relief works in this show were preluded by a long engagement with found object assemblages. After a decade of more conventional ways of working, her practice tended toward a relief approach to the medium. This was partially due to an evolving engagement with a particular material, discarded linoleum and a practical response to the difficulties of storage associated with more conventional sculptural practice. She has exhibited widely in the Northern Rivers, in Sweden, NYC, and triumphed at the Florence Biennial in 2019 where she was awarded the bronze medal for mixed media. She been practicing for over three decades.
Since then she has been using old linoleum, pressed metal and pianola rolls as her preferred mediums; collaging them to produce haunting abstractions that reference climate change, landscape and some social issues. “Black Rising” for example was done during the recent racial crisis in the United States. “And the Flames Danced through the Landscape”, a red and ochre work was completed during the bushfires of 2019. Discarded linoleum proves to be a versatile and compelling metaphor in the hands of this artist.
Nordström’s first encounter with lino as an art medium came by chance; an artist friend connected her to a Lismore demolisher who was about to level a building full of the 1950’s floor covering. The colours, patterns, textures and lino’s capacity to record the domestic traffic of human bodies was immediately enchanting. As a material, it could be cut neatly or ripped expressively; its formal qualities were remarkably various.
For this artist, the most compelling quality of discarded linoleum is the way it records the movement of the humans who have walked upon it. Lino was used mostly in kitchens, less so in lounge rooms and bathrooms and seldom in bedrooms, frequently in foyers and corridors. Over time, it became marked, scuffed and damaged. It reflected and recorded the repeated movements of human traffic. It records the dragging of chairs and tables the scuffing of feet, the rhythmic abrasions of brooms and brushes. Worn out lino is an honest hieroglyph of the dance of domestic life. Its an archaeological artifact that has memory and an IQ. The other redundant object used by Nordström in Moving Through Time is the pianola roll; perforated strips of paper that once caused music. The pianola was invented by American Engineer E.S Votey in 1897. A primal juke box that embodied an elementary trans humanism, its rolls contained strips of perforated binary code. It was remarkably similar to the early computers. For Nordström, these rolls represent music silenced by time and the passing of technologies. The artist is deeply interested in the effect of varying types of waves; microwaves, magnetism and invisible fields like those mentioned by Rupert Sheldrake and his notions of “morphic field resonance”. The perforated pieces of paper used in Nordström’s work once produced sound waves that entertained happy audiences. They now have a new, silent visual voice in the works on show.
Music has a major and minor key and so do these works. Some are heavy and reflective of past trauma. Some are joyful, vibrant and optimistic; this show embodies the full spectrum of human emotions. One of the more extroverted pieces is “Composition in Blue”, an improvisation on the theme of water. Dark and light pieces of linoleum dance rhythmically with each other in a work reflective of fluid movement. Some of the dark shapes conjure the forms swimmers or dolphins. The background is equally aquatic, a perfect chorus for the dark, kinetic elements. The ancestor of this picture might well be the waterlily paintings of Monet, they share similar structural DNA.
There are some more grave and introverted pieces in the show such as “Moving Together” and “Growing Strength”. The dominant colours in these are dark grey, muted orange and browns. There is little difference between tone, its dark on dark and these pictures carry a grave severity. These very serious works were done in response to a traumatic workplace accident that resulted in a death. Nordström’s show embodies the full spectrum of human emotion.
The medium of linoleum dominates Moving Through Time. Its an uncommon medium for the genres of sculpture or collage. It carries an industrial metaphor of redundancy. Nordström’s materials have all been deemed disposable and worthless. They are offered new life and meaning in the context of this exhibition. You can tell a lot about a society by the materials it throws out and most of these came from the “Great Acceleration”, a scientific term that describes the period of massive industrial growth that started in the 1950’s and has continued to the point where it threatens the earth system upon which our lives depend. This show uses archaeology from the early days of the Anthropocene. The artist would like the viewer to acknowledge and celebrate how blessed we are to be able to live in this period of diminishing abundance.
Giese - Art teacher. StevenDetail
And the flames danced through the landscape Linoleum on board 2021
In the front window 23. And the flames danced through the landscape Linoleum on board 2021 93 x 80cm $4,600
ANNA NORDSTRÖM CV
EDUCATION
2000 Graduate Diploma of Education. Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW
1998 Bachelor of Visual Arts. Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW
1997 Art studies at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, USA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2022 BAM artprize. Finalist. NRCG. Ballina. NSW
2020 Ravenswood Australian Womens Artprize. Finalist. 26 November
2020 Sang into existence. Solo. Western Plains Cultural Center 12 Sept-22 Nov
2020 GlobeArt Como City.Italy. 12 September
2020 Costa del Sol. Excellence Gallery, Marabella, Spain. Feb 28 – March 13
2019 Merlino Bottega d’Arte. Florence. Italy. 30 Oct-12 Nov.
2019 Florence Biennale XII. Firenze, Fortezza da Bassa. 18-27 October.
Awarded 3rd prize in The Lonrenze il Magnifico award in Mixed Media.
2019 ‘Façade: Art Deco of Murwillumbah”, Gallery Downtown.
2017 7 years of Solitude. Solo.NRCG, Ballina, NSW
2014 The Channon Gallery, The Channon, NSW
2012 Artfelt ArtPrize, Ballina Community Gallery, NSW
2012 Wilson Visual Arts Award, Trinity Collage, Lismore, NSW
2011 Artfelt ArtPrize, Ballina Community Gallery, NSW
2010 Swell Sculpture Festival, Currumbin Beach. Qld.
2010 ArtScape, Outdoor sculpture exhibition, Byron Bay, NSW
2009 ArtSydney (represented by Retrospect Galleries)
2009 Rivers of Life. Ballina Community Art Gallery. NSW
2009 Country Energy Art Prize. Lismore Regional Gallery. NSW
2009 Revolution of Art. Retrospect Galleries. Byron Bay. NSW
2009 Marine Visions. Retrospect Galleries. Byron Bay. NSW
2008 A visual Guide to Australian Values. NextArt Gallery. Lismore. NSW
2008 ‘12 x 12’. Retrospect Galleries. Byron Bay. NSW
2008 Brisbane Art Fair. Brisbane Convention Center. Qld
2008 Stanthorpe Art Prize. Stanthorpe Regional Gallery, Qld.
2007 Ten of the Best with 2 of their Best. Byron Fine Art. Byron Bay, NSW
2006 Olive Cotton Photographic Award finalist. Tweed River Art Gallery. NSW.
2004 Personal Space. Gigantic ArtSpace [GAS}, 59 Franklin St. New York City, USA
2004 3 Damer. Gallery Postum, Nacka, Sweden
2004 Ferrous City. A performance by Cave Dogs.
Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. USA..
2003 Intryck, Uttryck, Avtryck. Performance. Kagelbanan, Sodra Teatern, Stocholm, Sweden.
2003 102 Floppy Discs. Solo. Lismore Regional Gallery Windowspace. Lismore, NSW.
2003 Winsome ArtFair. Winsome Hotel in conjunction with Lismore Regional Gallery.NSW
2002 A Paddock full of Cows and Chairs. Lismore Regional Gallery. Lismore, NSW, 1999 Ex. Libris. Artist Books. SoapBox Gallery. Brisbane, Qld
1999 Explicit Imprints. Solo. SoapBox Gallery, Brisbane, Qld.
1998 Gold Coast International Sculpture Award. Gold Coast. Qld
1998 Photographic Showcases. Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
1997 Trans – an exhibition of Global Issues. SoapBox Gallery, Brisbane, Qld
PUBLICATIONS/LECTURES
2021 Florence Bienale XII edition Catalogue of the Contemporary Art Exhibition
2009 In Retrospect. Coffee table book. Retrospect Gallery, Byron Bay, NSW, 2009 Sth Cross Uni, Nextart Gallery 2009 Calender
2007 Byron Bay Art Diary 2008. True Art and Media. Bangalow. NSW
2000 The Wisdom Project. Lecture: Wisdom through Art. Griffith University, Brisbane, Qld
1999 SOAPBOX, Installation Practices and Artists.
Published by the Institute of Modern Art. Brisbane, Queensland. Australia