We are excited to be introducing our new British abstract artist Jo Hummel in her first solo exhibition in Scandinavia, exclusive to the Nordic Art Agency.

The exhibition has been split between two major European cities, Edinburgh and Malmö. Transformer I as held at the &Gallery based in Edinburgh and Transfomer II in Malmö at the Nordic Art Agency.

Tom Wilmott artist, curator and writer presents the vision of artist Jo Hummel for the exhibition.

Tom Wilmott explains,

Jo Hummel’s decision to split a single body of work into two for her split solo exhibition Transformer I & II, is borne most pointedly from deep rooted, formative experiences of divisive acts and actions, but given that one of the hosting galleries is located in a British capital and the other in a major European city, the associated political analogy is also clear and present. The references are not as singular as the casual viewer may assume, however. In all cases Hummel is responding to a forced passivity in the face of fundamental upheaval. Throughout life we are faced with situations in which we feel powerless, be it in childhood innocence or as the furious adult who shouts them- selves hoarse for their cause, but to no apparent effect. Our understanding of situations such as these changes and matures over decades, sometimes quite dramatically, but the impotent fear of one’s physical, psychological, personal or political geographies being fundamentally, even dangerously destabilised by forces far beyond our control, is never outgrown.

In Transformer I & II, Hummel has taken a risk. It would have been practically and conceptually easier, and perfectly reasonable, to have presented separate shows in Scotland and Sweden; but taking the path of least resistance is not always right. Instead she has embarked upon a more treacherous route. In acknowledging and addressing the acts of separation she been subjected to, she forces herself to consider difficult, personal issues. Her response is to perform a divisive act herself - one that cannot have been easy - but perhaps the only one that has truly been in her own hands. It is perhaps a moment of self-awareness for her - a decision made to help re- dress an internal imbalance. A move to take the power back.

Far from being entirely self motivated, however, she simultaneously seeks to broadcast more widely, of political and international issues such as isolation, uncertainty and coerced societal breakdown, and perhaps suggest that we are not quite as powerless as we may feel. Her profound personal decision to split up the cohesive body of work that is the result of many months of intense studio practice was superficially unnecessary and quite avoidable, but it speaks firmly, decisively and delivers an important message: It may be easier to ignore problems than to address them, to do nothing rather than to do something or to make smalltalk instead of instigating a serious conversation, but such a mindset, such a pattern of behaviour, is worthless. Hummel has made and carried out a very difficult personal decision. Her actions, Universally, and quite unambiguously, speak louder than words. She sets an example to be followed.

Tom Wilmott
Artist, Curator and Writer Living, working in London