In the course of the last decade I have come to believe that Odd Nerdrum may very well be the most important figurative painter alive. His vision of ceremonial worlds defy any easy definitions. His portraits reach deep and explore the very soul of the subject.

Born in Sweden and moved in infancy to Norway in 1944, Odd Nerdrum has nearly single handedly breathed life back into the tradition of Figurative painting. A prodigy, Nerdrum was painting highly accomplished works by the age of 16. The artist's method of painting is of an Old World discipline. He mixes and grinds his own pigments, stretches his canvas and uses live models exclusively.

His early success in Norway and Sweden lead to a one-artist show in New York in 1983. This artist of rare technical ability who presented works of allegory, still life and self-portraiture stunned the New York art world of Pop and Graffiti. Nerdrum was a provocateur between critics on one side who found modern oil painting useless and camp and those who still championed aesthetic beauty, the narrative, and technical prowess.

Odd Nerdrum's bold assertions have found supporters as attested to by his successful gallery shows and inclusions in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum in New York, The Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, The Walker Art Museum, Minneapolis and The National Gallery in Oslo, Norway, among numerous others. In January 1999, Odd Nerdrum became one of the few living artists to grace the cover of ARTnews.

In his first one artist gallery show in San Francisco at Weinstein Gallery, Nerdrum most assuredly will provoke the naysayers and enchant the devotees of Contemporary Figurative painting. It is an honor to host the first San Francisco gallery exhibition of Odd Nerdrum.

Rowland Weinstein
San Francisco, 2003

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