I was pretty blown away to see these paintings in person by Norwegian artist, Odd Nerdrum. Especially this painting here with the woman and baby. There is something about the way he painted the child's face either in the colors or how smooth the transition from the yellow colored light to the violet shadows across the eyes that really sings. The surface texture was really interesting and the colors all had a really harmonious color palette. The landscapes in the backgrounds reminded me of Leonardo DaVinci figure paintings and how he would stage them in environments. This work is just so emotional and dramatic. I even like the stretching and exaggerated anatomy.
This painting especially follows after the tradition of a Rembrandt portrait. It was also interesting to see how the paintings were framed. The canvases were floating inside of these beautiful frames so that there was a gap between the edge of the canvas and the beginning of the frame. I've seen this done with simple shadow box frames, but here I think it gave it a more contemporary vibe. I've never seen that done before and I think it's smart.
Look at this texture. It's like he took blobs of dried up paint from his palette and scraped in onto the painting.
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This painting was priced at $375,000.
Two of his paintings were absent from the show and at the Armory. I think I will go back next Saturday during my GCA class lunch break and take a look when they come back.
Thank you very much for posting this. It always saddens me that painting like this was never taught at the Mineapolis college of art and design where I got my BA in fine arts. It unfortunate that painting is no longer regarded as a serious skill that needs to be taught, but rather as an experiment that needs to be endured.
ReplyDelete"Express yourself" that's all that seems to matter, as long as you have a 5 page artist statement that accompanies your work it's no longer important how pathetically amateurish it looks.
To say that you like Nerdrums work is almost equivalent to admitting that you have bad taste. The art world that prides itself on being avant garde has turned into a hypocritical orthodoxy into which Nerdrum refuses to fit in. I am so glad he exists and continues to paint through all the criticism and bigotry.