At the peak of his career at 75 years old

The Østfold artist Odd Skullerud experiences its greatest artistic success ever in the anniversary year. The anniversary exhibition at Soli Brug shows how popular his paintings are, and at the end much of the graphics were torn away.

May-Britt Bjørlo Henriksen
maybritt@galleriekg.no

- I turned 75 this year, and Galleri Soli Brug has been going for 40 years now. Then it became a jubilee exhibition, pretty quickly nailed down, says Odd Skullerud . The artist from Onsøy is still both happy and surprised by the enormous success he experienced, not to mention the turnover. When the last day of the exhibition came, turnover was tipped at NOK 1.5 million. About three times as much as he has previously sold for at good exhibitions.

The romantic

Skullerud refers to himself as a romantic, where the love of nature is the main element in his pictures.

- I am probably very attached to Østfold, and I like to tell a little about the quiet landscape that most people just pass by. A bit like it is on Hedemarken. In some works, it is also the love of the coastal landscape and the coastal forest that comes to the fore. We live only a couple of kilometers from the sea.

Modest as he is, he gives some of the credit for the successful exhibition to the media in Østfold.

- The four newspapers in Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg made preliminary reports, but they also followed up afterwards to hear how it went. Nrk made a feature on TV, and that contributes to interest, says Skullerud.

Great exhibition

Soli Brug is a beautiful place that many people visit for recreational purposes, and gallerist Ole Dørje told Fredrikstad Blad before the last day of the exhibition that there had probably been 3,000 visitors to the exhibition.

Skullerud presented a total of 100 works, of which 80 were paintings and 20 were prints.

- It was mostly etchings and some woodcuts, but I got to show what I've done in the last four years, but I also brought some photos from as far back as 1995.

Pastry chef

At the age of 16, I began an apprenticeship as a pastry chef. I knew this was art I wanted to do. But didn't know how. After I finished the military, I first started at SHKS and studied at the art academy afterwards.

Art by Odd Skullerud https://galleriekg.com/collections/odd-skullerud

Seven years of art education from Oslo was part of the budding artist from Østfold.

- It all started when I got a marker from my father, and I copied famous artists and stood in it. It was around 1956. I started by copying the Norwegian romanticists Theodor Kittelsen and Werenskiold.

Skullerud says that although you know him as a painter and graphic designer, he also likes to work in black and white. Among other things, he has had some charcoal drawings in Galleri EKG.

Important lesson

The parents were concerned that he had to learn to work. His brother Finn worked in a pastry shop, and it ended with Odd being apprenticed as a pastry chef for four years.

- It made it easy for me to get started as an artist. I had a summer job in a small patisserie for all seven years, which meant that I didn't have to take out student loans. And when I was allowed to live in a house for free in return for renovating it, I managed financially when I was about to start my career as an artist.

- I may have lived a little frugally, but it was possible to survive. It's great if you know what you want, and sometimes you have to be brave and try.

How did you experience such success as you did with the exhibition at Soli Brug?

- I don't have very much self-confidence, but this helped a little, says Skullerud, satisfied that he is still meeting his audience.