Odd Nerdrum

If you're an F+SF artist and you're not yet familiar with the great Scandinavian figure painter and fine artist, Odd Nerdrum, you're missing out on something great.  Nerdrum's work has a great affinity for the painting style the quality of timelessness that is contained in the works of Rembrandt, Civilius, Caravaggio, and Goya, and yet it is contemporary work.

 Self Portrait With Melting Eyes

"If you compare yourself with others, you lose - I am the hero in my own life." ~Odd Nerdrum, 1983.

Nerdrum's early work has a Modern/ Postmodern sensibility in that it deals with contemporary issues and modern settings, but that is where the work's art historical context ends. Because his work maintains painting as its modality, it aligns itself more closely with the spiritual and ideological underpinnings of Renaissance painters, employing such dramatic chiaroscuro lighting techniques of Caravaggio. His later work flirts with the artistic symbolist sensibilities of William Blake. However, telling the story of the human condition remains the insistent content of the work:

The Murder of Andreas Baader, 1977.

There is a turning point in his work whereby Nerdrum finds his particular voice.  Homey Scandinavian themes with Vikings now abound, and yet with this kitschy subject matter he has put his finger on a general aspect of humanity. He's tapped into the uncanny: a strange yet familiar feeling; scenes of twisted humans interacting with one another. Timelessness. These smells and human groupings are familiar to us.

The Water Protectors, 1985

"On the surface we are all profound and noble, but inside we are cruel and simple." ~Odd Nerdrum, 2007.

Here he humanizes and personalizes the simple mythology of Narcissus with a sweeping design that is simple and compelling:

Sole Morte, 1987

Nerdrum works with live models, friends, relatives, and often himself, which lends the images a certain continuity of form; these characters come from the same filtered, imagined universe. Here is another unusual and arresting composition, again using the power of three:

Man Bitten By A Snake, 1992

More of Odd Nerdrum's work can be found here http://nerdrummuseum.com/paintings/.

[Ed. note: several image links were broken and so this page was updated on 21 Oct 2016.]