On the occasion of his new-opening at Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, 21st of May 2002. In January 2002, Odd Nerdrum and I held a lecture in New York on a 200 year old phenomenon: Art.

The lecture was a success, and later the same evening we were celebrating ourselves in a Japanese restaurant together with some friends, a couple living in New York. The husband saw some of my work and said he could never be an artist as he had no talent. I told him ? without irony: “But that?s exactly what makes you an artist.”
I thought he should know, because it is a widespread misunderstanding that an artist must know the handcraft. Art has been a revolt against handcraft ever since it was invented in the 18th century.
However, despite its short history, it is remarkable how Art with its mentality and rhetoric has become a natural part of our everyday lives. We are in fact talking and thinking like artists do. Couples, for example, break up because it is time to “try something new”, they have to “find themselves”. And so they start to wear clothes they would not have touched half a year ago ? it is important to be “a part of our time”. If we talk like this, we are behaving like artists without knowing it ourselves.

It was one man in particular who decided what Art should be, the Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant, living in the 18th century. Despite of being short, he was great in his time. Everybody listened to what he said. The most important thing he did was to say that handcraft was ok, but a real genius should not care about skill. The feelings of the artist became superior, even to handcraft rules. One can perhaps describe the result with a biblical saying: because of Kant a camel has a greater chance of entering the Art heaven than a skilled painter.

So please, do not say “This is true Art” about Odd Nerdrum’s work. “Art” simply means contempt for handcraft, contempt for the past and contempt for natural studies. The paintings of Odd Nerdrum in this beautiful museum is not Art, their stories are too gripping and too well made. Consequently, Odd Nerdrum cannot be an artist. His paintings are not from our time, in every way. An artist comments on his own time, Odd Nerdrum does not. An artist should also use modern equipment like video and computer, and in order to be true she should not do her own work. None of these things fit the description of Odd Nerdrum.

In a way Odd Nerdrum lives in the era before the invention of Art, an era that allowed you to admire a painter who could make paint seem alive. This allows him not only admiration and study of the old masters, but also the attempt to equal and surpass their achievements with the same medium they used. An artist, on the other hand, is prohibited from doing this.
The results are catastrophic if Odd Nerdrum`s work is regarded with “Art-glasses” on. But unfortunately this goes for many others as well.
We all say of a young girl with drawing skill that she will succeed in life. “She will be a great artist”, one man says, “With her talent? Undoubtedly!”, says the other. How wrong we can be ? this is exactly what speaks against her…
If this little girl continues to develop her talent, she must have a spine of steel to endure. The talent is a problem in the white man?s world. This is a fundamental tenet of Art. An American sculptor quickly changed the subject when complimented on his craft skills ? he was afraid he would not be accepted as a true artist. Therefore I say: Art is what you refuse to accept as Art. If we point to a painting and say it is Art, we are really saying: This man does not know anything.

As with many other words, “Art” means the opposite of what one thinks. A teenager wants to be ?himself?, but it means that he will do his best to be like everyone else.
In most cases, a teenager has problems with accepting his own body. Art also has problems accepting the body, but only if it is painted on canvas and still looks alive. This is why we say that Art in many ways is Christian. Due to its anti sensual laws, Art became a substitute for God from the 19th century on. One could believe in “Art” instead of “God”. As God before, “Art” was endowed with the power to save human souls ? contemplating a painting was described as “saying a prayer”.

As Art became a religion, the belief in self sacrifice became important. The artist had to suffer to be true, following the example of the Christian martyrs. Presumably they were more Christian than someone who did not die for their faith.
This helped the poor, unknown artist a great deal. He could simply see himself as a great martyr, suffering for his God: Art. And given that the idea behind this new phenomenon was the victory of spirit over body, the broad women?s behinds of the Baroque was banned to give way to the cellulite-free spirituality of Art.

You are about to witness the new-opening of Odd Nerdrum’s three-year exhibition, with paintings not shown here before. Its title is “Love, Love, Love”, and I think I have given you a possibility to see these paintings with somewhat different eyes.
Odd Nerdrum has been so generous as to place paintings he himself owns in this beautiful museum, but unfortunately it will be the last exhibition of new paintings from his hands and head in these rooms.

I ask of you to remember that you are not looking at someone trying to be “original”, or who wants to “express himself”, nor a man who tries to keep pace with our time. In stead you will see the work of a man whose concern is the history of human suffering.

Odd Nerdrum has showed complete non-compliance with the Art-rules, just remember that it has never been out of hatred of resentment? but out of love.

Oslo, May 2002.
Jan-Ove Tuv,
Assistant to Odd Nerdrum.