Odd Nerdrum
Artist Odd Nerdrum, who has been seeking a pardon from the Norwegian Justice Ministry in his tax evasion case, will not be attending the April 30th opening for his exhibition Crime and Refuge as he had planned to. According to Casey Gleghorn of the Booth Gallery, Nerdrum now faces imminent imprisonment. Nerdrum's appeal reportedly included a request to serve his sentence at home due to a chronic illness: Nerdrum suffers from Tourette's Syndrome. "His plea to serve at home," says the artist's son Bork, "has been rejected."
At the closing of his most recent public hearing, Nerdrum told the judge:
"I am now seventy years old... to end my days in prison without the chance to get anything done anymore. Not to work with what I should have been doing, but put me in prison because I was so damn honest with the customers..."
Crime and Refuge is Nerdrum's first U.S. exhibition since 2012 and will include sixteen paintings that have never been exhibited before in America.
Odd Nerdrum, The Last Procedure, Oil on Canvas, 279.5 x 207 cm.
In Greek mirror script, "We of the university have the right to sentence you to death."
Odd Nerdrum, No Witness, Oil on Canvas, 334 x 204 cm
Odd Nerdrum: Crime and Refuge
April 30th - June 18th
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 30th, 6pm
Booth Gallery
325 West 38th St.
Store #1
New York, NY, 10018