Atlantica - 01.06.2001, Side 22

20 A T L A N T I C A
nity has nothing to give art. Then you are
just kitsch.
Where do you seek inspiration? Where do
you get your ideas?
They just jump out of my head all the time.
Just like melodies, and then I have to work
on them later on. My paintings are like
snapshots from a longer story. Like in a
movie, you normally remember only one
important moment. That key moment
becomes a masterpiece. My themes can be
very different, but I translate them all to
what I call the eternal atmosphere.
And your influences?
I used to be very influenced by Caravaggio.
What do you think about Icelandic art?
I especially like [Jón] Stefánsson. He was a
wonderful artist. I don't want to mention
any living artists because then the others
will be offended.
Does kitsch exist in Icelandic art?
Well, there is a girl who makes icons. I
can't remember her name. I thought they
were wonderful, and very kitsch. Einar
Jónsson, the late sculptor, was a great
man, and a very kitsch man. I love him. He
is wonderful. What strange things he cre-
ated!
Are you rebelling against modern art?
No. I'm not against modern art at all. It has
its place.
Do you ever feel that you were born in the
wrong era?
I have felt that way since I was a baby, that
I should be in some other place somehow.
Talent is definitely out of fashion. The real-
ly great names in art today have no talent.
They can't even draw. Art, like a hand
grenade, has disintegrated the old tradi-
tion that held an enormous position in the
past. Kjarval, for example, would never
paint today. I think Kjarval would be a con-
ceptualist. Rubens would have been the
greatest director in the world, a kind of
Spielberg. Raphael would be a Hollywood
movie maker-today.
And Rembrandt?
Rembrandt would have been a painter
even today. His talent is too enormous, he
couldn't have done anything else.
So Rembrandt would have been a kitsch
painter?
You said it. I didn't.
Anna Margrét Björnsson is a staff writer. Odd
Nerdrum's essay ‘On Kitsch’ is published by
Kagge Forlag AS, Norway.
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Father. Oil on canvas. By Odd Nerdrum
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