“I aim to spark the imagination and ignite the enquiring mind. In my collages, I bring myriad threads together to form balanced compositions that strive for visual harmony. What will you spot in my work? The domestic architecture from your living room, your dog walking at the park? Snippets from your favourite museums or nostalgia from my archives that resonate with you? Fragments of your overheard conversations, your favourite song lyrics, my poetry and contemporary political debate? All these elements merge to form a feast for the eyes with an open narrative.”

Jo McCormick graduated from De Montfort University in 1991 and has worked consistently over the years, developing a multi-faceted socially engaged artistic practice that spans making and creating, organising and curating, educating and teaching, collaborating and empowering. 

Fenestration refers to the arrangement of windows in a building, and this is an exhibition of textured, framed and unframed works designed by the artist as tiny windows into imaginary worlds. In keeping with the rest of her practice, this show dives into Jo’s intrinsic creative flow - expressing vibrant notions of psychedelic Victoriana and abstraction, described by pulling and pushing the brush across the surface, dropping wet into wet and layering wax resist, exploring the possibilities of paint with mixed-media. 

“I vary the grip of my fingers to influence brushwork, line, consistency and form. Tapping into pareidolia – shapes in clouds – and slap bang doodling snatched snippets of visual ephemera from my ADHD everywhere.”

Jo is based in South East London and has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, including group and solo shows with venues such as Ikon Gallery Birmingham, Fringe Biennale Venice and Cross Lane Projects London. Fenestration is her latest collection.

Opening times: West Norwood Picturehouse | West Norwood Cinema | Showtimes