Sunday, February 21, 2010

Surealistic Sunday - Odd Nerdrum

Well, I'm taking liberties with the title of my feature. Odd Nurdrum is not at all categorized as a surrealist but I find that some his work has a surrealistic (dream-like) atmosphere to it; a bit like Bosch. Cited Nerdrum influences are diverse:  de Vinci, Rembrandt, Dali and Munch, among others. At first glance, Nerdrum could be a baroque painter. But when one looks closely, there are modern motifs in his work as well. He is, in fact,  a self-described kitsch artist.

 born 1944
Norwegian-born, Swedish figurative painter

If your foremost goal is originality, then you are no longer making kitsch.
Kitsch seeks intensity, not originality.
The goal is to approach the best of the old masters as closely as possible,
especially the Greek hellenism (300 b.C - 100 A.D.)
and the Baroque Renaissance (1500-1670).

taken from: Kitch Dogmas

 

Self-Portrait

Twins by the Sea

Twins by the Sea 
detail

 Dawn
Kitsch is the opposite of the public space, of the public conversation, of the demand for objectivity and functionality. Kitsch is the intimate space, our selves, our love and our congeniality, our yearnings and our hopes, and our tears, joys and passion. Kitsch comes from the creative person’s private space, and speaks to other private spaces. Kitsch deals therefore with giving intimacy dignity
Odd Nerdrum, ArtNews, April 2000.



 
 Bath

 Bath 
Detail

 In Limbo





 
Twins






Early Morning


Woman with Doorknob






I found all of this weirdly fascinating...

8 comments:

  1. Wow! I'd not heard of him before. Weirdly fascinating is spot on!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Something that reminds me of Blake in there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Blake. Yes. There is a type of mysticism here; weird as it may be. I get a charge out of creative people who live in their own world. I mean, who thinks about kitsch art, anyway?? I guess I do now! :-D And you know, I feel the richer for it somehow. There is so much to discover and while I can't be out in the world looking at everything there is that is new me - at least not all the time - I can discover all sorts of new things online and save them right here on my blog. One reason I love blogging - it's mind-expanding.

    Thank you both for the visit! I love both your blogs for the same reason - mind-expanding!

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow, weird is kitsch and never would i link these paintings to that word...i can't say as i like them or don't, i am not sure right now what i feel...some of them gave me a chill and others made me smile...interesting, that's his point, methinks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Seems strongly influenced by Blake.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really don't see anything 'kitch' here.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Linda: they're rather dark paintings, that's certain.

    Aileni: if you were interested enough to read the other links in addition to the wikipedia entry for kitsch, you'd see the connection.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree that these are surreal in quality - and even sometimes in subject matter, I think. And a DEFINITELY agree with the echoes of Bosch. Plainly a kindred spirit.

    ReplyDelete

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