Customer Reviews

Odd Nerdrum: Paintings

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This is an incredible book, at a decent price. I especially enjoy the details in this book (they uncover the depth of Nerdrum's paint.) From the beginning, the authors provide interpretation of his isolated figures and influences (Rembrandt, Caravaggio.) Altogether, If you like the old masters style, Nerdrum provides a fresh new approach, similar to Ernst Fuchs or Lucian Freud. Last, this book is a treasure to own, I use it everyday as a reference in painting and drawing.

This is the most beautiful and disturbing art book I own. Nerdrum's work is at once beautiful and grotesque. Having concluded that modern art is a joke, Nerdrum has fearlessly embarked on the task of furthering a style that the rest of the art world seems to have given up. The subject matter is at first rather opaque, but after the images leave their stain on your memory you begin to understand the metaphors. My only complaint is that the text at the beginning of the book isn't nearly as enlightening as the text in "Storyteller and self revealer". But the reproduction in that book is horrible.Nerdrum's world is the most horrible place I love to visit.

Responding to a question by a fellow art lover on Amazon.com resulted in coming across this now barely accessible but very fine monograph on Odd Nerdrum by Jan-Erik Ebbestad Hansen with a provocative essay introduction by Donald Kuspit.

Before the generous and very well reproduced paintings from the thirty year span from his debut in 1964 to the time of this book in 1994, Hansen has provided the reader with an extended essay, 'Odd Nerdrum's Imagery: Themes and Motifs', and for the lovers of Nerdrum's art this information is essential. He discusses Nerdrum's idiosyncratic place in contemporary art as many have done before (Kuspit's 'Introduction' actually addresses this topic with more fluidity of thought), but then he proceeds to lead us along the paths of Nerdrum's fascination with not only mythology, but with the essences of water, desert, rocks, wilderness, the sun, as well as his preoccupation with death, with distortion, with the mother image, and with hermaphroditism. Yes, other subsequent authors have written about these aspects of Nerdrum's work, but few as concisely and with extended bibliographical evidence as has Hansen.

And then come the plates! From his early, tightly painted social statements through his gradual walking into those inimitable vistas of plains, tundra, and landscapes that seem from another planet, here are some works not seen in other books. The color reproduction is superb and the paper quality is first class. There are copious full page (and the scale of this book is large!) details of his paintings that truly allow us to see brush technique as well as any book ever has.

Though it may be difficult to locate this monograph, there are copies available. Recommendation: Search for them! Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 05

Nerdrum paints in the renaissance style, with his own modern twist. He portrays isolated figures in a barren post-apocalyptic desert landscape, wearing unusual clothing and performing odd rituals. The detail photos of the paintings are awesome!! This book is worth every penny. WOW.