Odd Nerdrum
Odd Nerdrum (born April 8, 1944) is a Norwegian
figurative painter.
Nerdrum was born in Oslo and
studied traditional classical painting in the
Art Academy of Oslo and, with
Joseph Beuys, at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He began to teach
himself how to paint in a classical manner, putting himself in direct
opposition to the art of his native Norway. Nerdrum devised a method of
painting of mixing and grinding his own pigments, stretching his canvas
and the working from live models. He had his first one-person gallery
exhibition in New York at the Martina Hamilton Gallery in 1983. He is now
living in Iceland. Nerdrum became a controversial artist, claiming among
other things that his art should be understood as kitsch
rather than art as such. "On Kitsch" is a manifesto composed by
Nerdrum concerning his distinction between kitsch
and art.
Nerdrum divides his time between his home in Iceland and his farm in
Norway.