as humans are born from inner earth, humans are made from water
as humans are born from inner earth, humans are made from water
We believe we live in houses, we believe we walk the streets, but really we live in a great landscape
and there we will find a cave where we eventually will die
Time, Water, Recollection
We make choices all our lives, our choices determine who we are
autumn exhibition 1991
As we enter the work off Odd Nerdrum
It seems to me like a voyage into the unknown
with a guide that´s never been there himself but asks for direction
I was born with a narrative fantasy, I see pictures as  signs or as  recollections
Do you travel here to find your own palette?
No, I think my palette has always been this way
I travelled here as I knew this landscape from the past
so it´s more as a confirmation of it´s existence
Yes, you painted this before
You painted it before you came here
Yes, it was sort of a confirmation of all the different forms I work with
as they exist in nature here
These round forms that seem  to preoccupy me
And overall, the icelandic landscape became more important as a setting to these figures
to a higher degree than before
You know, Iceland arrived from inner earth
just like humans are arrived from inner earth
As we´re made from water and water comes from inner earth
So in a way we are the result of the inner earth, just like Iceland
Nature in Iceland is harrowed in a way
There´s a lot of conflict in nature that appeals to me
I have for example painted that mountain over there
It expresses itself like  a gigant bear against the sky
There is somthing strange with this pond
I get more preoccupied with the pond than the sky,
even though it´s painted with the same colors as as the sky, I´m more interested with the sky reflecting in the pond
Is that intentional?
I don´t know, maybe I was more interested in the pond
I can´t really explain that
But I´m trying to paint the pond as a child would have seen it
I call it "seen by a child, painted by an adult"
Because children often make things in over perspective
So this is probably how it would turn out if a child would make it
Thats also why I´m so preoccupied by the icelandic landscape
Because it reminds me of what you experienced as a child
When you played in a small pond it seemed like a great landscape
This landscape  recollection is of great interest for me, you can also find this with Hertevig and Gude
The recollaction of a landscape where you played with small bark boats
The concept is simple, five adults and a child standing by a pond
The adults live with their memories as they stare into the water. They see everything they experienced
But the child does´t have those memories. The child only have expectations
So the child there represents a kind of cheeky expectation while the adults represent the melancholy of memories
What I´ve noticed is the weapons that you bring into the pictures
These people seem primitive so wouldn´t a mallet be more appropriate?
Its about affirmation. It´s about not disapearing into a irresponsible dream world.
If the spectator will be able to see himself in this world, or wish himself there
In that case there has to be some kind of logic if you would enter this landscape
I think of the kurds fleeing from the Iraqis which reminds me of the pictures I´ve made
with  mothers carrying machine guns over their shoulders
Carrying weapons is mandatory when you don´t live in a square civil society
What´s so beautiful here in iceland is the way nature expresses itself
The geiysers reminds me of nostrils or body openings
The earth is completaly naked here
and appears like a human body in giant format
Standing in front of a mountain its almost like architecture
Thats what I find interesting that people, one might say, in this lava landscape
have found the northen part of Atlantis
In a vulcanic landscape like this you can find forms that seem architectual
One realizes that the greeks tempels stems from a vulcanic landscape
Our time is useless as a base for a picture rendering
I dont have a problem with the way Nerdrum paints
But what I criticize is the content and his understanding of mankind
That is the basis for my critique
What do you mean about his understanding of mankind?
in all the pictures during the last 10 years
he has reduced his figures to primitive beings, often deviant and defective people
He has put people back in its natural state, where culture no longer exists
And I find it extraordinary for an artist to observe  mankind in that way
I find that view of mankind is reprehensible, we´re something more than these  primitive people
But is it possible to imagine that mankind in relation to nature, and only in relation with nature
only then is man pure to who he really is
Well, that´s Nerdrum´s understanding of it
Can´t you have any sympathy for that point of view?
No, Nerdrum´s point of view doesn´t interest me at all
I only care for what he shows in his pictures and there he expresses an amputated view of mankind
Maybe it is a depiction of  a future scenario and war has devastated civilization
But still, he has painted these pictures with an amputated view of mankind
as a critique I am not able to accept this
I accept that he tries to depict mankind in untouched nature
But mankind is also cultivated and that fact is misappropriated in his paintings
Its almost like we´re vegtables if i may put it like that
Do you mean that peple living in direct relation with nature are not cultivated?
Much less so. And to quote Freud, these pictures represents a discomfort in civilization
It seems like he is not able to live in a civilized world
That´s why he place these people  in a nature state. And that´s an illusion
Do you paint both with your intellect and your imagination
The unconscious mind believes that everything is round, the square belongs to the conscious mind
And the unconscious mind is a warm and amorphous state of mind
