Odd Nerdrum

Steve Craighead · 08-17-2007, 11:00 AM

I was over at Amazon and came across this artist, Odd Nerdrum. I've never heard of him. His paintings are kind of a cross between Rembrandt and Bruegel. His subject matter is kind of heavy (amputees, corpses, etc.) and "odd", but his technique is interesting. He has a book out.

Claudemir Bonfim · 08-19-2007, 03:46 PM

I read somewhere that he might be one of the most important figurative painters alive. He painted some "odd" and some very beautiful paintings.

Chris Saper · 08-19-2007, 06:29 PM

Hi Steve,

I pre-ordered this book several months ago, and hopefully it will show up in the mail soon! I really like his work a great deal.

Steve Craighead · 08-20-2007, 01:18 PM

Here's the cover of an older book. What a strong painting of a head. There's lots of form and dimension. Quite impressive.
Chris and Claudmir, I'm glad you and others are aware of him. Obviously, I haven't been paying attention.
I'm ordering one of his books as well.

Steve

Joan Breckwoldt · 08-20-2007, 07:58 PM

How funny that I would come across this post today. I, too, came across his work on Amazon recently. I happened to be at the local Borders Book Store to look at books on artists today and I came across Odd Nerdrum's book "Themes". I came home and ordered it with one day delivery, I was so excited about it!

Does anybody have any other suggestions for books on contemporary figurative artists? I saw a couple on Lucian Freud . . . . Francis Bacon . . . . but those didn't grab me like the about Odd Nerdrum.

thanks,
Joan

Linda Brandon · 08-20-2007, 09:50 PM

I own an Odd Nerdrum book and I'm a big admirer as well.

Joan, I'm a bit of a book freak - I've got books by Vincent Desiderio, Steve Assael, Yuqi Wang and Claudio Bravo (to name a few off the top of my head) - if you go to the SOG bookstore you can search on Amazon and Ebay for them if you like their work. I'm also a big fan of an artist named Istfan Sandorfi, let me know if you get a hold of his book, it's one that I'm missing.

Thomasin Dewhurst · 08-21-2007, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joan Breckwoldt

Does anybody have any other suggestions for books on contemporary figurative artists? I saw a couple on Lucian Freud . . . . Francis Bacon . . . . but those didn't grab me like the about Odd Nerdrum.

thanks,
Joan

I have never really liked Odd Nerdrum. He's a bit uptight in both expression and technique. A bit too clever and self-conscious.

On the other hand I find looking at a Francis Bacon original almost a religious experience. He paints operatically, symphonically. His work soars. He is one of, if not the, greatest artist of the 20th century (He's not contemporary - he died in 1992).

I did my Masters thesis on Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud. I used to like Freud when I was starting out in my career, but now I find his work a bit too grumbly, monotonous and miserably grey - like London weather. Still, he's one of the best, or has been.