Customer Reviews

Odd Nerdrum: Paintings, Sketches, and Drawings

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4 star:		(1)
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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.

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."

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.

Well, if so-called modern art makes you sick/laugh/sigh (or whatever), here's one artist you may like, as long as you appreciate sur-realism combined to the works of the Old Masters. Try this book that seems to be the best among the few, with clever lines that explains the approach of the painter and fine and numerous reproductions. Last but not least: go to see his exhibitions (big formats to fill up your eyes) and try his own book "On kitsch"

Odd Nerdrum is a painter who polarizes viewers and critics. This very beautifully designed and produced and written tome shows more than just an enormous amount of paintings by the Norwegian giant; this book contains one of the finest essays by Richard Vine about the artist and his place (or misplace!) in contemporary art. It is provocative, haughty, seductive, and honest and as such gives a realistic picture of one of the enigmatic artists of today.

Nerdrum decided early on that he wanted to paint in the fashion of the Renaissance painters and though he had formal training, he soon progressed to self-taught techniques to enter his world of artic terrains which harkens back to the beginning of man as the hunter, gatherer, and sexually obsessed monolith.

The book is generously graphic, giving not only full page and two page spreads of the large works, but accompanying pages of details from these massive canvases. Nerdrum's characters and scenes have changed little since his foray into the tundra landscapes populated by limbless warriors, infants, hermaphrodites, couples and choreographed folk who dance to Nerdrum earthy tunes. The most recent works shown and discussed reveal a loosening of his brush technique but little else changing in the works of the past 25 years.

The term 'kitsch' is usually used as a derogative adjective, but not so with Nerdrum. He feels that most paintings today have nothing to do with gut level reality and it that sort of representation is 'kitsch', then he proclaims himself the king of kitsch. Use that information as you will: critics are still debating the issue. But no matter the titles or the content or the repetition of the themes, there is no denying that Nerdrum has become a household word in the art salons, and this fine monograph certainly justifies much of the clan-like adoration he has gained.

Grady Harp, December 2004

Odd Nerdrum is an extra-ordinary painter. He portrays himself as (and may well be) the prophet of painting. In this book we get a close look at some of his work; good detail plates allow examination of his technique. It's a beautiful book with a well written commentary on Nerdrum's life and thinking. Scattered snapshots of nerdrum at work are very enjoyable.

I came upon his name by accident when I was reading about some other painters.

Scoffed and rejected by the 'modern-art' world (which is just fine with me), Odd's work is beautiful to look at and become a part of. The stark landscapes that he places his figures in are peaceful yet convey an uneasiness. I can't wait to visit Iceland to see if it's really as beautiful as he paints it.

This is a comprehensive collection (and heavy!!!). Well worth the money.

Essential, amazing images, zooms, according texts.

If you are a figurative painter, you will need as milk for a baby.

He is part of the offspring coming from Goya, Velázquez, Rembrandt ...

EXCELENT

Amazing. One or probably the most impressive paintor's book I have. Not easy subjects sometimes, but anyway, always beautiful.