During all its history the humanity was improving its skills in art. The works of art constantly changed, and each subsequent work was much worthy and skillful than the previous one. Finally, in the twentieth century the variety of painting trends, styles and themes leaded to the uprising of such trends as Kitsch. This paper is dedicated to 3 works in kitsch style by the artist Odd Nedrum. The canvases are studied from the point of view of the presented contextual information, the context of the canvas and relation with the epoch when the pictures were created, a comparative description and contextual analysis of the canvases Singers and Dawn, and the significance of Self Portrait in Golden Cape in the kitsch depicting of reality.
The artistic trend of kitsch takes its start in the second half of the twentieth century. The kitsch is a reaction to the classical painting and presents: “a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that are unoriginal.” (Shiner 2007, 85)
Odd Nedrum is Norwegian painter whose manner of painting “influenced of the painters Rembrandt and Caravaggio place him in direct conflict with the abstraction and conceptual art considered acceptable in much of his native Norway”.(Vine 2001, 56)
His works Dawn(1990), Singers(1988) and Self Portrait in Golden Cape (1997) are the bright examples of his creative manner. If to have a closer look at the time when the canvases were made it is possible to establish regularity. The content of the author’s painting changes from the 3 men dressed in tights on the Singers in 1988 to the image of the same men but half-dressed on Dawn in 1990. The Self Portrait in Golden Cape became the pick of the scandalous painting manner of author, who depicted his self-portrait paying special attention and focusing on his own erected genitalia. Such evolution of his works of art is described by Nedrum as the reaction to nowadays state of culture in mass media, literature and cinematography. “Later on he has, from his new position, published several articles and books on the subject and thus he has presented the perhaps most radical critique of the culture of today, when it comes to the field of art”. (Ward 1994, 211)
Singers and Dawn are the works that represent the same images of sinning men first in a stand position on Singers and than sitting on Dawn. But there is still slight difference between the canvases, the background and the position and quantity of men. There are three of them on the first picture in ballet performing, and strict conical mountains serve as the background. Dawn presents for singers, who are sitting on different distance to each other and in retrospective to the viewer. The first two figures appear to sit closely to each other. The background is changed from the strict shape of mountains to the image of dark cumbersome rocks. Apart from this, the faces of the men are static in comparison Singers where the face of each man expressed a certain emotion. Thus, the idea of the works manifests the change in the social culture at the end of the twentieth century. The people are getting more and more possessed with the sex and erotic, while completely losing their personality and dignity. The change of the background also manifests the idea of the ruining of old cultural value system. The mountains of correct conic form are changed to rough rocks which resemble the ruins of the previous epoch.
In seven years these hidden discovery of the society decay is depicted in the clearest, though scandalous way. The Self Portrait in Golden Cape is performed in the style which is very much similar to the classical painting of Caravaggio, Rembrandt, El Greco or Michelangelo. The general image of the canvas resembles to the time of Renaissance of the 16-17th centuries. The male figure with a solid body, which is typical for the human figures of the classical painting, is the central element of the canvas. The man is painted half-dressed and his appearance also resembles to the representative of aristocracy that also stresses out the idea of similarity to the style of Renaissance. The man lifted his clothing shamelessly demonstrating erected genitalia, which was strictly banned by church for all times, especially in the epoch of Renaissance. Thus, due to this element the canvas pertains to kitsch. The author puts into disgrace the main dogma of classical painting and adds the element of the sinful pleasure which was adherent and strictly doomed in the religion painting. “This element also made the work one of the most scandalous, but due to it the author continued the idea of mental decay of the society” (Nerdrum 2007, 91). Mocking at the classical painting the author shows the attitude of modern society to the art and Christian Virtue.
These pictures strongly differ from the idea of the traditional art. But: “conceptual art and deconstruction posed as interesting challenges, because, as with kitsch, they downplayed the formal structure of the artwork in favor of elements that enter it by relating to other spheres of life” (Greenberg 1978, 129). Thus, kitsch, despite its rejection by many classical painting schools performs a crucially important role in the development of modern art by the most obvious way of depicting social demerits.
Reference List
Greenberg Clement, Art and Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Nerdrum Odd, Themes: Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures. Oslo: Press Publishing, 2007.
Shiner Larry, The Invention of Art. New York: Beacon Press, 2007.
Vine Richard, Odd Nerdrum: Paintings, Sketches and Drawings. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlog, 2001.
Ward Peter Kitsch in Sync: A Consumer’s Guide to Bad Taste. Chicago: Plexus Publishing, 1994.