Cannibals (painting)

Cannibals is a 2005 painting by the Norwegian kitsch painter Odd Nerdrum. It depicts three men in a barren landscape, devouring the remains of a fourth man whose spine, rib cage and head lie on the ground before them.

Cannibals
ArtistOdd Nerdrum
Year2005
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions200 cm × 250 cm (79 in × 98 in)

The painting was on view at the Paul Booth Gallery in New York City from 20 April to 30 July 2016, as part of the Nerdrum exhibition Crime and Refuge.[1]

Reception

Daniel Maidman wrote in 2016 for Whitehot Magazine that "a very un-PC classical iconography of good and evil is deployed here", as the three cannibals are, "to use the appropriate nomenclature", "a cripple, a madman, and a mongoloid". At the same time, the victim's face is depicted with "the serene beauty of a fallen Siegfried, unimpressed by his humiliation, retaining a steadfast, and perhaps ultimately foolish, faith in cosmic justice". Maidman wrote: "It is a scene of squalid and pervasive evil. It is an evil in collusion with a wicked metaphysics, and therefore an evil from which there is no exit save death."[2]

References
  1. "Odd Nerdrum: "Crime and Refuge" April 30th – July 30th (Opening Reception Saturday April 30th, 6pm)". Paul Booth Gallery. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  2. Maidman, Daniel (October 2016). "Odd Nerdrum's Nightmarish Execution". Whitehot Magazine. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
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