Sentence revoked in supreme court

The sentence against Odd Nerdrum in the court of appeal has been revoked in the supreme court.

MORE INFORMATION: http://www.dagbladet.no/2013/02/05/kultur/nerdrum-saken/odd_nerdrum/rettssak/skatt/25491056/

Miscarriage of justice

Odd Nerdrum is sentenced with no proof from the accuser, the court is rather ignoring evidences from the defender.


Here is a translated article from a Norwegian newspaper.


Harsh sentence

He is sentenced to prison for two years and ten months. That is an increase of ten months since the verdict from the district court. This is in line with the prosecutor's assertion. Nerdrum is also charged to pay 35,000 NOK in legal costs.

- “The verdict is completely false. He is wrongfully convicted”, said Odd Nerdrum's defense attorney Paul Berg. He is now considering appealing the sentence.

The painter was accused of selling paintings for more than 14 million NOK abroad during the period 1998-2002, without claiming the income on his tax return. The Court of Appeal reduced the amount by approximately NOK 150,000 and sentenced him for evading 13,853,000 NOK.

- “Nerdrum has been convicted of tax evasion for a much higher amount than what he was investigated for. This shows how horribly wrong this verdict is”, says Berg.

Berg notes that the Court believes that Nerdrum had a higher income than the U.S. tax authorities have disclosed. Both Forum Gallery, who has exclusive rights to sell Nerdrum’s work worldwide, and the U.S. IRS, disclose a total of $1,486,000 US. dollars of sales for the period in question. This is much less than the approximately $2,349,000 (14 million NOK) used by the court.

Furthermore, in Oslo district court last fall, Nerdrum was charged of evading 10.5 million NOK. That amount is 3.5 million NOK less than the latest sentence. The district court found that it could not be disregarded that Nedrum had given $ 450,000 for taxation in 2002.

- “The court of appeal sees this question differently”, it says in the verdict.

Police Attorney Christian Stenberg of the Oslo police did not want to comment on the verdict other than to say he notes that the Court of Appeal fully agrees with the arguments and sentencing from the prosecutors.

Central to the case are paintings Nerdrum painted in the 80's which had begun to melt. This lead Nerdrum to repaint his decade long production, to satisfy the customers and pay any compensation that could show up if the customer wanted money instead of a replica . According to Nerdrum, he had received a loan from the gallery owner to place in an Austrian safety deposit box in case of any claims from customers of his melted paintings.

- “I made a verbal agreement about this. The money in the safe deposit box was supposed to be there for five years, thereon the money would be sent to me as salary and to taxation, Nerdrum explained in court.”

- Jeg gjorde en muntlig avtale om dette. Pengene skulle være i bankboksen i fem år, så ble de sendt til meg som lønn og til beskatning, forklarte Nerdrum i retten. The Court of Appeal does not believe this explanation. -"The verbal agreement from 1997 is fabricated by Nerdrum and after a while from the gallery too,” it says in the verdict. The Court believes the deposit box only has one purpose: Tax Evasion.


New trial In October Nerdrum must face another trial. He has himself brought this against the Norwegian IRS because he does not accept the tax and the tax penalty he has been required because of the paintings he sold abroad.

The defense lawyer Paul Berg claims the two trials should have been performed in reversed order, so that the tax case was settled before the appeal.

- “If Nerdrum wins in the tax case in October, this will be a matter for the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Then it is a miscarriage of justice”, Berg says.

He has barely talked to his client after since verdict was released.

- “He says that the entire burden of proof has been laid on him, and he's convicted of something he has not done”, says Berg.

Under ankesaken i Borgarting lagmannsrett sa Nerdrum at dommen i Oslo tingrett har ødelagt ryktet hans. During the appeal in the Court of Appeal, Nerdrum said that the verdict in Oslo District Court has destroyed his reputation.

- “I have not sold anything in a year. Reputation is dangerous stuff”, he said.
- “Miscarriage of justice" Art Sociologist Dag Solhjell says the verdict against Odd Nerdrum is a miscarriage of justice.

He says that it would be a disaster for Nerdrum to end up in prison.

- “Anyone who has power in the art world, has prejudices against Nerdrum. He feels he is persecuted. Now he probably feels persecuted by the government”, Solhjell says, who holds a Phd. and also an MBA.

Solhjell followed the trial of Odd Nerdrum in the court of appeal, saying he believes the verdict raises the question of how reliable the Court of Appeal has been in this case.

- “I do not think the Court of Appeal has held other than honorable motives, but they can not count. Nerdrum has been exploited for far more revenue than he had. The Court of Appeal should have seen that. The judgment is based on completely false premises”, said Solhjell to NTB. He says he is convinced that Nerdrum is innocent. (AFP)

Under arrest

International school at classical painting under arrest by Norwegian authorities.

How they manipulate the people

The 19th of february 2012, one of the most influencial newspapers in Scandinavia (dagens næringsliv) published an article, written anonymously, about explosives hidden on a particular farm. "Two tons of unclaimed explosives" was the headline - to illustrate, they used a photograph of the Nerdrum family's residence.

Someone inside the Norwegian press, has reached a new level of creative propaganda. They blatantly suggested a connection between the Nerdrum residence and the case concerning explosives which were discovered because of the Breivik hysteria.

Odd Nerdrum granted appeal

In a dramatic turn of events, the internationally renowned painter Odd Nerdrum has been granted a new trial in the Norwegian appeals court. His two year prison sentence has been overturned amid growing allegations of faulty evidence and infractions of the legal process during the trial.

Because his prison sentence was less than six years, the probability of being granted an appeal in Norway is incredibly low. Thus, the choice to overturn the sentence requires serious concerns about the district court's verdict. The appeals court stated that it specifically wanted to review questions over a sum of $300,000 taxed in Iceland in 2003, as well as to re-consider Nerdrum's explanation that this fiasco began due to some 40 paintings that had melted due to experimental techniques.

The date of the new trial has not yet been set.

Self portrait at L'Hippodrome by Odd Nerdrum

In a liberal society, both bad guys and good guys can be successful. In a social democracy, only the bad guys can prosper.

- Odd Nerdrum

The Nerdrum Affair (interview)

An interview with Brandon Kralik and Richard T. Scott about the case against Odd Nerdrum.

Odd Nerdrum censored on skavlan

Written by Bork Spildo Nerdrum

When are they going to treat him with respect? I guess never.

Our family went to the skavlan show and we met Fredrik Skavlan who seemed like a very decent and sympathetic man. We really thought he was the key to successully spread the enlightenment of the case - we were completely wrong.

Instead of trying to understand the situation, he demonized Odd and had no interest of the case outside the bankbox in Austria which he kept going back to. If what the people wants is a clown as a television host, then he really made the best out of it.

I saw what they had broadcast on tv the day after, and disappointed of course. Most of the important information was edited away, and relatively published on their website. Click here

Of course we knew that there were important parts missing from the longer version of the interview, so I called Skavlan myself to ask for the raw footage. I remember him trying to fool me, saying it was already published on their websites, but as he understood that it wasn't possible to keep talking nonsense, he told me he would send the full version unedited to me - and surprisingly, he did.

Some days later, I got the cd - I guess charlo halvorsen (which is the entertainment editor for the state television and husband to the former socialist party leader) wasn't to happy with that. Oh, and by the way, he was there that day when the show was recorded. Coinsidence? I do not believe so.

THE Nerdrum AFFAIR

In response to the recent prison sentence of norwegian artist odd nerdrum, american artist is revealing some of the facts of the trial and giving several of his contemporaries an opportunity to voice their opinions

On August 3, 2011 internationally acclaimed painter Odd Nerdrum was sentenced to two years in prison by a local court in Oslo, Norway, on counts of tax evasion totaling more than $2 million. The verdict started a frenzy of media

activity from the artistic community, with Nerdrum supporters rallying around the artist through Facebook, blogs, petitions, exhibitions, and online groups. The collective indignation at the prison sentence was palpable— and although several artists were determined to prove the charges erroneous, it was the prospect of Nerdrum not being permitted to paint during his two-year sentence that ignited the greatest levels of empathetic response from his contemporaries. “The work of Odd Nerdrum is a gift to a world much in need of culture,” stated professional portraitist and Studio Incamminati founder Nelson Shanks. “To in any way inhibit or prevent his work is a crime against humanity and should be condemned. No court is above this reproach...

Artists repsond to Nerdrum sentence

Independence is the state’s worse fear, and Nerdrum’s financial and artistic success outside of their economic structure is considered a threat.

Odd Nerdrum is a phenomenon that challenges the consensus and the sheep - minded mentality that pervades the contemporary art world, and therefore must be "dealt with." I also think this trial is about sending a message to everyone else who aspires to have the kind of independence Nerdrum has achieved.

- Joachim Ericson

I must say that Norway has committed a grave injustice. Let’s be clear: the charge is not that he didn’t pay taxes. He paid the taxes, and the court acknowledged this

The only explanation I see for such an unprecedented punishment is that the court has made a political ruling and not a judicial one.

- Richard T. Scott

 When he “discovered” a medium that was wonderfully creamy, rich, and luminous he did what most any of us would have done: He used it. 

 It would be difficult to know what to do when many years later this medium proved to be flawed, and it’s easy to criticize whatever choice was made to make amends. Leonardo’s Last Supper suffers from the experimentation of a master as well. The truth is that Odd did what he felt was best, and that was to keep the customers satisfied

- Brandon Kralik

Written by Alison Malafronte