Maria Gavrilchik
Art historian
"LAND OF ODEN" by DENIS ODING
The series of landscapes "Oden's Land" was created by St. Petersburg artist Denis Oding in 2012 and became a continuation of the graphic cycle "Midgrad" - the second and final part of the project dedicated to Norway.
The works, made with pastels on paper, appeared during the artist's journey through Scandinavia. Having started in St. Petersburg, he crossed Finland and reached the north of Norway, where he stopped in the town of Kirkines, located on the border with Russia. Then he traveled by ferry along the coast down to the south of the country to Bergen. After rounding Cape Nordkap, looking at the northernmost city in Europe, Hammerfest, and visiting the rocky Lofoten Islands, Denis Oding found himself in Laerdal, an ancient town on the edge of the famous Sognefjord, where many St. Petersburg artists once made "pilgrimages". From Laerdal he went to Oslo, and after a short stop in the capital through Stockholm returned to Russia.
On 38 pages of the graphic series a visual chronicle of this journey unfolds. The artist conveys what he has seen with almost photographic accuracy and supplements the images with laconic comments on the peculiarities of flora and fauna of this or that landscape.
"My paintings," says the author, "show the unique, striking with its unique, gloomy beauty of the nature of the north of Europe. But this is not a dry pedantic authenticity of the protocol, but artistically realized authenticity of life, which, in essence, is art. Observation of northern landscapes became for Denis Odinga "an opportunity to get to know the places where the action of numerous Scandinavian sagas about gods and heroes unfolded, under the influence of which in VIII-XI centuries the Viking civilization was formed, which had a great influence on the development of Europe and Russia". Behind the characteristic minimalist aesthetics of Denis Oding's always deserted landscapes, the epic intonation can be clearly discerned. To visualize it, the author has found simple and strict plastic solutions. Graphic drawing emphasizing the form, diffused lighting, in which all elements of the image appear with equal clarity, convey a sense of sublime and solemn peace.
In his Norwegian series, Denis Oding has created a series of self-sufficient meditative images, which impress with their apparent simplicity: in front of us is not just Norway, but Midgrad - the "middle land" from the Elder Edda, inhabited by characters from heroic sagas and ruled by the supreme god Oden, the master of Valhalla.
The series of landscapes "Oden's Land" was created by St. Petersburg artist Denis Oding in 2012 and became a continuation of the graphic cycle "Midgrad" - the second and final part of the project dedicated to Norway.
The works, made with pastels on paper, appeared during the artist's journey through Scandinavia. Having started in St. Petersburg, he crossed Finland and reached the north of Norway, where he stopped in the town of Kirkines, located on the border with Russia. Then he traveled by ferry along the coast down to the south of the country to Bergen. After rounding Cape Nordkap, looking at the northernmost city in Europe, Hammerfest, and visiting the rocky Lofoten Islands, Denis Oding found himself in Laerdal, an ancient town on the edge of the famous Sognefjord, where many St. Petersburg artists once made "pilgrimages". From Laerdal he went to Oslo, and after a short stop in the capital through Stockholm returned to Russia.
On 38 pages of the graphic series a visual chronicle of this journey unfolds. The artist conveys what he has seen with almost photographic accuracy and supplements the images with laconic comments on the peculiarities of flora and fauna of this or that landscape.
"My paintings," says the author, "show the unique, striking with its unique, gloomy beauty of the nature of the north of Europe. But this is not a dry pedantic authenticity of the protocol, but artistically realized authenticity of life, which, in essence, is art. Observation of northern landscapes became for Denis Odinga "an opportunity to get to know the places where the action of numerous Scandinavian sagas about gods and heroes unfolded, under the influence of which in VIII-XI centuries the Viking civilization was formed, which had a great influence on the development of Europe and Russia". Behind the characteristic minimalist aesthetics of Denis Oding's always deserted landscapes, the epic intonation can be clearly discerned. To visualize it, the author has found simple and strict plastic solutions. Graphic drawing emphasizing the form, diffused lighting, in which all elements of the image appear with equal clarity, convey a sense of sublime and solemn peace.
In his Norwegian series, Denis Oding has created a series of self-sufficient meditative images, which impress with their apparent simplicity: in front of us is not just Norway, but Midgrad - the "middle land" from the Elder Edda, inhabited by characters from heroic sagas and ruled by the supreme god Oden, the master of Valhalla.