“The world somehow is always the same. The only thing that can improve is the individual life. One can live a good life. One can give life a meaning. Either by drinking oneself to death or by painting oneself to death or by loving oneself to death.” – Odd Nerdum

– 1944-present

Odd Nerdrum is a Norwegian figurative painter, famous for his criticism of contemporary arts and use of traditional methods to paint. He distinguished his paintings from the branch of modern arts by saying that they should be understood as“kitsch”. Odd Nerdumwas born in Helsingborg, Sweden, on 8th of April 1944, which is also the last year of World War II. He was brought up by his mother who left him and his younger brother for some time tostudy fashion making Odd feel “unwanted”. According to Richard Vine, upon discovery of the fact that Johan Nerdumwas not his biological father,Odd Nerdum went into a state of "a conflicted preoccupation with origins and personal identity", that "came natural to Nerdrum" and were represented in his pictures.Odd started his education from Rudolf Steiner School, which set him apart from the contemporaries, as the school used to focus upon learning through dramatic enactments of history, fantasy and music which reflected later into his paintings. However, the greatest impact on Odds ideas was Rembrandt's painting, which he described as, "a shock... Pervasive… the wonderful thing with Rembrandt is the confidence he inspires - like when you warm your hands on a stove. Without Rembrandt I would have been so poor". He was later deeply impressed by the works of Caraviggio and visited Italy a number of times for an on-going inspiration. Odds paintings have served as studies for future paintings, collected in different parts of the world. The exhibitions of his art work started in 1967, until the latest, in 2011. From movie scenes and music album covers, to dance choreographers, Nerdum’s paintings have inspired many. He creates six to eight paintings yearly with the subjects in his paintings often being considered to be from another place or time, through the way they are dressed. His works include still life paintings, portraits, self-portraits and large paintings too.Nerdrum lives in Norway and is 73 years old.