You see we are blind at Fineart Gallery in Oslo is the largest collection of Odd Nerdrum’s work that has ever been on display, showcasing sixty paintings from the past twenty years.
Since the 1980s, Nerdrum has consistently depicted man in his primal state, confronted by the necessities of life and its inescapable challenges. The paintings in this exhibition emphasize human figures in movement, roughly painted as if caught in a stage of transformation.
Watch Jan-Ove Tuv’s guided tour at the exhibition:
Tuv is known for putting emphasis on technique and storytelling when he analyzes paintings. He often points to a method he calls the “shock effect” which he says is typical for Odd Nerdrum. “It pushes or pulls figures in a certain direction,” he explains.
Taking inspiration from “Hope” by George Frederic Watts, Nerdrum is using a heliocentric perspective where centralized figures are seen from beneath, and the earth as if from outer space — a sense of life repeated in some of his most iconic images.
Besides barren landscapes and forests, a third scenery of a darker kind has been introduced in the last decade and a half. The series of void pictures is a continuation of experimental motifs Nerdrum made in the 1960s, initially inspired by fever dreams in his childhood. Here, the human figure is the supreme center of attention and the general order of society has ceased to exist. In some of his recent paintings, the transitory stage of the underworld becomes apparent. Clothless… hairless; the figures are stripped of everything, as if they were living ghosts.
Since the mid-2000s, Nerdrum has been using the Apelles palette, consisting of white, yellow, red, and black. The cool tones in these works, which appear blue, are merely gradations of gray, underlining the earthly tone and sense of unity.
More and more coarsely painted and softer in the transitions, as if in a dream, his subjects are living, translucent beings.
For Nerdrum, a “correct” depiction has never been sufficient. His primary goal has been storytelling, and now more than ever, he connects the figures through a pulsating rhythm of eternity.
The stories we are witnessing recreate moments where life is at stake. Moments of utter seriousness and devotion. Moments we all secretly long for, because they tell us who we are.
Seeing Nerdru’s work, one is reminded of Joseph Campbell´s words of how The Hero brings eternity into the present. He who lives according to timeless stories will remain forever young, because his ideas come from the primal source of human life.
Guided tours at the exhibition
Jan-Ove Tuv will have guided tours at the exhibition:
Sunday 27th March at 1 and 3 pm (13:00 og 15:00)
Saturday 2nd April at 2 and 4 pm (14:00 og 16:00)
Sunday 3rd April at 1 and 3 pm (13:00 og 15:00)
It is for free and anyone can join.
Your cart
Available lithographs
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Loving couple
25,000 kr
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Drifting
28,000 kr
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Infant
25,000 kr
Related links:
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Latest news
Rembrandt’s Melancholy and Classical Values
Do you want to know how the mind of the greatest classical painter of our time works?Do you wonder what “classical values” actually are?And why melancholy is actually that important to us? Odd Nerdrum and his former student Jan-Ove Tuv sit down for a conversation in the building which is the Nerdrum Museum in the making: The old Pipe House at Agnes Square outside of Stavern.With a philosophical approach to painting, the discussion will move beyond the strokes and attempt to explain the meaning of painting. Join a one hour conversation about: • The importance of Rembrandt’s melancholy• Why storytelling is so important to us• Why “modern” values are destructive for classical painters and the audience. The event will take place September 14th at 17:00 – 18:00. Tickets are now available.
Odd Nerdrum exhibiting “Redemption” at the Autumn Exhibition
At the annual Autumn Exhibition in Oslo, visitors will soon be able to see Odd Nerdrum’s recent painting entitled “Redemption”, showing a monumental scene of a father rejoicing with his son. The exhibition is Norway’s largest marking of contemporary paintings, sculptures and nonsense, and was held for the first time in 1882 as a radical protest against the established bourgeois dominance in the Christiania Art Society. The exhibition will be on view from the 9th of September through the 15th of October 2023.
“Painter of the North”: Odd Nerdrum Exhibiting in Warsaw
11th August is the date set for the opening of Odd Nerdrum’s solo exhibition at the Uljazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art (UCCCA) in Warsaw. The exhibition is titled Painter of the North and features many recent paintings. The UCCCA writes in their press release statement that: “Odd Nerdrum has become one of the most accomplished Norwegian painters since Edvard Munch. A defining moment in his early years was seeing Rembrandt’s painting The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm.” Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Filip Kwiatkowski – In Nerdrum’s paintings, Mankind is situated in an abysmal, mythological world beyond what we usually associate with ‘history’, time and space, says Jon Eirik Lundberg, who is curating the exhibition. He calls Nerdrum’s imagery “a completely new world and a language of signs and symbols,” imitating myths and tales. – But this is not some earlier version of mankind; these people are us, Nerdrum’s contemporaries, only stripped of our modern outfits. Time is absent. They are inhibiting ‘an eternal present’. Not post-apocalyptical, not after some global destruction, but rather as we live today in our essence, Lund continues. The exhibition will be on view from 11th August through 10th of December 2023.
