Product Description

With a huge cult following among figurative art lovers, outsider art fans, and students, Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum has carved out a unique and sometimes jarring niche in the world of contemporary art. With his Old Master style and his often apocalyptic subject matter, Nerdrum rejects the tropes of Modernism in favor of an emotionalism which, when combined with his remarkable painterly talents, produces works that are not only visually arresting, but which also, by their mere viability, call into question the very foundations of contemporary art. "Odd Nerdrum: Sketches, Drawings and Paintings" brings together the recent work completed since the publication of "Storyteller and Self-Revealer" in 1998, as well as earlier work, including, for the first time, an extensive selection of drawings and sketches. At 400 pages, with over 200 color illustrations, this volume is the most comprehensive book available on the work of one of the world's most popular and idiosyncratic artists.

"Innovation is of no importance, nor is originality. Going in depth and becoming engrossed is the goal, for in the depiction of nature itself lies the individual expression." Odd Nerdrum

Odd Nerdrum was born in Norway in 1944, where he still lives and works. Among the U.S. institutions that have held solo exhibitions of his work are the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and many others. His work is in major public collections worldwide, and he shows at the Forum Gallery, New York.

Essay by Richard Vine.

250 color and 150 b&w.

11.5 x 11.5 in.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #525889 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-15
• Released on: 2001-11-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Customer Reviews

Devestating and Essential
The first thing that strikes me about this book, aside from the paintings themselves, is the illuminating essay by Richard Vine. Mr. Vine, who also penned the essay for "Odd Nerdrum: The Drawings", is unique among those art critics who contemplate the nature of Nerdrum's work and philosophy. Not content to simply regurgitate what has been said about the work and the man, Vine delves into the images with confidently discerning warmth. The best part about Vine's locution is that he exudes integrity of approach, deftly able to ride the fence between partisan praise and aloof observation. This is an important role in the burgeoning comment-mill regarding Nerdrum where the categories seem to be either/or.

The second aspect (though intimately related to my first point) that pleases me in this 400-page monolith is its validity in the context of other books on Nerdrum. It would have been very easy for the publishers to simply cover the same territory as in past volumes. Fortunately for those of us who love and study Nerdrum's work, Gyldendal chose to create a definitive text that brings readers into the Nerdrum mythos from a different angle. This book inhabits a middle ground between the approaches of the two previous major books on Nerdrum, Jan-Erik Ebbestad Hansen's "Odd Nerdrum: Paintings" (1994) and Jan Ake Pettersson's "Odd Nerdrum: Storyteller and Self-Revealer" (1998), the former being distant and abstract and the latter being intimate and emotional. "Odd Nerdrum: Paintings, Sketches and Drawings" is a necessary work, filling in holes and fleshing out the aura of our favorite "black sheep" of painting.

And those paintings (this book contains the highest quality reproductions I've seen)! One of the main reasons that I continue to buy different books on Nerdrum is that the work continues to change physically. He is constantly working and reworking. It is exciting to seek out images that seem different and then pouring over them to find the alterations. Look at the differences between the painting 'Transfiguration' in "Odd Nerdrum: Paintings" and the updated version in "Odd Nerdrum: Paintings, Sketches and Drawings". The difference is amazing and that is only one example of many. But with Nerdrum there is no zero-sum game; he is always bringing more work to the table, more ideas and more realizations. This book brings out both images from the past that we have not seen and new pictures from 2001 which, when considered together, help us to understand the transitions and developments in Odd Nerdrum's approach to life and painting.

Let me finish by saying that anyone interested in seeing Nerdrum's drawings more closely ought to track down "Odd Nerdrum: The Drawings" (1994, New Orleans Museum of Art). This small book (65 pages) really should be reissued as it has a brilliant essay and provides a wonderful view of Nerdrum's process rarely seen. I was able to locate the book through an online out-of-print bookseller and it was worth every penny of the $62.00 I paid for it.

In any case, "Odd Nerdrum: Paintings, Sketches and Drawings" is a real treat and a first rate production. At this price the value is incredible. Very much worth the price and essential for Nerdrum followers and art students everywhere.

One Story Singer...
It's difficult not to become sentimental about Odd Nerdrum's work. Of course, that's the idea. If you feel that you've wandered through the sort of strange, barren landscapes he paints, do not be surprised. Nerdrum speaks about his personal life through is obsessively re-worked paintings, some of which have been in production for over a decade.

The themes are universal and eternal -- love, loss, paternity, commerce, birth, and death ...

This is the greatest collection of Nerdrum's work thus far. My only complaint is I wish there were more drawings featured, but the details of the paintings are so beautiful that I quickly excuse the oversite.

I'm a graduate student at the New York Academy of Art, where rendering the figure in the manner of the Old Masters is paramount. Odd Nerdrum is revered among my classmates and myself as more than the greatest living painter in the world -- he truly is the "Prophet of Painting."

Finally - more than just his current paintings!
If you are interested in Odd Nerdrum, then this is the book to get - full color plates of numerous works are included, as are quite a few of his drawings and sketches, which can be difficult to find. The text is one of the better explanations I have read of the artist's work. Especially nice is to see the chronological collections of some of his series, such as the self portraits and brick paintings. With so many plates to look at over a wide spread of years, it is easy to find continuity and growth, the insight into what drives him, and to have a better look at his earlier work which I was not as familiar with. My only complaint would just be that I want MORE drawings, MORE sketches, and that some of the plates are spread over two pages, which really makes it difficult to enjoy the painting since there is a seam through the middle of it.