* (restored)
—-
He used to be part of Copenhagen’s punk underground. But since he’s become a proper established artist. That’s what comes with years of being a member of one of Denmark’s most successful bands ever, Sort Sol (Black Sun).
Sort Sol – Siggimund Blue (for some reason some of the members are wearing ‘Heavy Metal-like’ wigs in the video – some kind of irony I suppose):
Sort Sol, in 1977 or 78 when they were called Sods, left to right: Guitarist Peter Schneidermann (also known as ‘Peter Peter’), singer Steen Jørgensen, bass player Knud Odde, drummer Tomas Ortved – In 1981 they changed their name to Sort Sol and within a couple of years another guitarist, Lars Top-Galia, joined the band.
This ‘Knud Odde-day’ though – except for a few references here and there – is not specifically about Sort Sol. Because Knud Odde is not only a successful musician. He’s also a renowned graphic artist and painter.
Knud Odde was an atypical punk and rock musician. He was known as the nice guy of the band and being on stage or playing on the records were never the most important things for him. It meant more to him to create the record covers.
Glamourpuss cover, 1993
In later years he also created the artwork for one of Denmark’s most family- and tourist-oriented establishments, the old amusement park in central Copenhagen, Tivoli Gardens in 1994. He has also done posters for the Danish Railways (DSB):
DSB II, 1997
and for Copenhagen Jazz Festival:
Copenhagen Jazz Festival (Chet Baker), 1992
Knud Odde was born in 1955. As a child he looked up to his two-year older brother who played drums in a rock band.
“They were a really trashy psychedelic band called Frost And Flames…the singer of the band taught me to play the guitar I got for my 13th birthday” – Knud Odde.
Patti Smith II, 1999
But actually Knud Odde never dreamt of becoming a musician – he always wanted to be an artist and he sold his drawings and paintings from a young age.
Michael Eckei
“Personalities whose life story or work fascinates me are often the reason for me to do a picture of them. I find my subjects by reading books, watching films and listening to music. Instead of writing an article or doing an analysis about them I use the drawing or painting to clarify and express how I feel about it”
Mark E. Smith II, 2001
Knud Odde was inspired by ‘Die Neuen Wilden’, an exhibition from West Germany in 1980. The artists featured in the exhibition were opposed to minimalistic art and were instead more expressive, with references to German Expressionism and French Fauvism.
The Frogs Sew The Short Nights Together
Odde is also inspired by the romaticism of the 1800’s.
Bull’s balls dangle between yellow roses
For Knud Odde people even when naked are always wearing a cloak of culture because the body is a language and the body can speak.
?, 2004
Knud Odde often brings up the same themes in his works sometimes after several years – old elements in new constellations.
Blessing, 2003
Knud Odde maintains a divide between the music and the painting. It’s two different genres even though they arise from the same emotion and articulate the same longing, triviality and humour.
Siggimund & Stroheim, 1992
Portrait of a gentleman, 2019
The Pretty Things, 2010
The Walker Bros., 2010
Rimbaud og Verlaine, 2016
Solbadernes dagbog, 1998
Sol Invictus, 1997
Portrait, 1999
Von Stroheim, 2018
See more of Odde’s artworks on his website:
http://www.knudodde.dk/uk_ma_pattismith02.html
When Andy Warhol visited Copenhagen in 1978 in connection with an exhibition at Danish museum, ‘Louisiana’, Knud Odde and Tomas Ortved (who were big fans of Warhol) went to his hotel to meet their idol. Ortved: “We asked if we could have our picture taken with him, and he said ‘sure, but only if I can have my picture taken with you.’ We were there for about 5-10 minutes. He never painted us and he didn’t know who we were but we said we were in a punk band and he really liked that.”
Knud Odde (left), Tomas Ortved and Andy Warhol, Copenhagen 1978
Another big event for the band in May 1978, was when they met Iggy Pop on a Copenhagen street the day before he was doing a concert and they managed to blag their way into supporting him at the following night’s show.
I haven’t been able to find an interview in which Odde talks about his interest in/admiration for Dennis Cooper but I’m guessing he must have some interest/admiration since he made the piece shown above. The image is from an article on Dennis Cooper in Danish art-literature-film magazine Sentura (issue 11, September 2001). Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get hold a of a copy but on the magazine’s website it says the following about the article:
‘The anatomy of debasement
Sex, drug addiction, and the most grotesque forms of sudden death are the main topics of author Dennis Cooper, America’s last literary outlaw – according to Bret Easton Ellis. Kim Foss introduces. Knud Odde illustrates.’ (http://www.sentura.dk/indhold.11.html)
And that’s that. Knud Odde is someone I’ve always been aware of because he’s so well known in Denmark (though probably not anywhere else). But I never really knew very much about him – just heard a song on the radio here and saw a Tivoli poster there. In gathering information for this ‘day’ it’s been interesting getting to know a little more about him.
And to finish the day off properly, here is another Sort Sol song ‘Popcorn’ from 1993 (couldn’t find a video of it on YouTube, but someone uploaded a video showing video clips of Copenhagen using the song as a soundtrack):
Knud Odde left Sort Sol in 2001 and the band broke up a few years later. Three of the original members have reformed the band in late 2010 and they’re rumoured to play at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival in the summer 2011. Knud Odde and Peter Peter are the two members who haven’t rejoined the band.
As an aside it’s worth mentioning that Odde’s old fellow band member Lars Top-Galia is a part of Artfreq who in the last couple of years have curated several exciting artist-events in Copenhagen featuring people like John Waters, Kenneth Anger, Diamanda Galas, Patti Smith, Lydia Lunch, Throbbing Gristle, etc. Read more: http://www.artfreq.org/
Lars Top-Galia
—-
*
p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Yeah, so sad about Nick Zedd. I interviewed him once in the 80s for Richard Hell’s old zine Cuz, and he was an intense and super serious guy. Well, I guess those crazy faces that bitchturd is making in his pix strikes him as Jim Carrey-like, and he does seem like he’d be more exhausting than entertaining. Ha, your love grabbed my favorite line of that slave post. Canny love. Love asking everyone he runs into to pull his guts out into the open and get demented with them, G. ** David Ehrenstein, Well, that’s because they’re not escorts. They’re slaves seeking masters. The escorts posts are always in the middle of the month, and the slaves posts are always at the end of the month. Guys with entirely different intentionalities. ** Misanthrope, The comments help, yeah. Thank goodness the wanna be masters are so obnoxious and vociferous. Jack Lalanne, ha ha. There’s a name I have heard in decades. He was such a giant star when I was a kid. Strange how some big celebrities die when they die and others become immortal. The body’s increasing uncooperativeness and decreasing submissiveness is definitely one of aging’s biggest drags. ** _Black_Acrylic, Yep, re: the Batman thang. So ongoingly sorry about Leeds’ hopefully temporary diaspora. I’ve heard great thing about ‘Succession’. I’ll probably never see it given my great trepidation at being sucked back into television’s addicting orbit. ** Ry / angusraze, Hey. The Xiu Xiu track was ‘Wondering’. Long story short, Jamie said he wanted something different than the usual Xiu Xiu type of video and gave us free reign. So that’s what we did. It was basically Jamie putting together a toy car and falling involve with it intercut with a weird side story of a mysterious boy in a raccoon mask doing weird stuff and going to an amusement park. There was basically no budget, so Zac and I paid for the whole thing, which included having to travel to LA on our own dime since the requirement was that Jamie needed to be in it. But then the label said it was too un-Xiu Xiu-like and rejected it. So it was a colossal drag and a very unpleasant, let’s say, experience all around. Well, I co-direct with Zac, and he’s the more visual person by far, so ultimately he directs with a ton of input by me. But I find it exhilarating. And really challenging, which is the exciting part since I’m huge on challenges. Oh, man, I hope the talk at your work about the money undercut goes well. Whatever ‘well’ would mean. Did it? I’ll go get your new thing on bandcamp. Sadly,at the moment, I have neither a vinyl or cassette player in my pad. Things I really need to rectify. ** Bill, Hi. Well, some of them at least actually want to hook up. And of course I have doctored the info for the post. Ha ha, see, your indicating that that the Janice Galloway lacks sufficient narrative makes me want to check it out even more. ** Steve Erickson, Keener seems to be concentrating on music these days. He has a bandcamp page. But I don’t get the feeling he’s done with filmmaking. Could just be a funding issue. Gonna try to see ‘Hellbender’ tonight. ** Maria, Isabella, Camila, Malaria, Gabriela, Oh, no! I was going to suggest going vegetarian, but tofu can burn too. I’ll try to stay as far away from the Seine as I can this week. Thank you, potential life saver. ** Verity Pawloski, Goodness gracious! My eyes! ** Shane, I’ve never used those apps. I have a lifelong dislike of looking at myself, so even seeing myself younger wouldn’t help. Maybe just spring for one of those cheap rubber Halloween monster masks? ** Duarte, Hi, Duarte. Good to meet you! Thank you a lot for the kind words! Mm, I’m not so into revealing the sources for those posts. For one thing, while everything in the posts is found and from the sites, I do edit the texts and use various methods to disguise the guys, so those slaves, for instance, are both real and fiction. One couldn’t actually find them. There about 8-10 sites I use. You can find them easily by just searching for s&m or slave/master social media or hook up sites. The site where maybe most of then originate is called Recon. So there you go. Have fun. And of course feel free to come back in here and hang out anytime. Take care. ** Brian, Hey, Brian. I too loved that ‘Thanks for being attentive to the young people’ squib too. Oh, man, yeah, ‘CODA’, no thank you very much, ha ha. There are filmgoers who try to follow Bresson’s dictum within reason. *raises my hand* ‘Notes …’ was a huge influence on my writing, for sure. Really huge. I still pull it out and read it when I’m thinking about what voice and form and stuff I want to try to use on a new novel. That does sound nightmarish: the shoot. Going into a shoot blasé/formless is a death sentence. Unless they happened to be people who find genius by thrusting themselves unprepared into the unknown. I suppose that could be possible. Will there be a shoot where you’re assigned to be the director? Glad you got that out of the way, and I hope there’s something in the footage unexpectedly. My week is okay so far. Film stuff mostly, and seeing friends, and fiction fiddling. We’ll see. I hope your week is both infinite and finite. ** Brandon, Hi, Brandon. There used to be this great used bookstore in Glendale that I went to and found surprising stuff at all the time. Its name is escaping me, but it shut down, gosh, ten years ago maybe. Film theory and criticism: theoretically excellent area of studying. Nice. Oh, man, your wrist. All I have is my imagination, but it hopes the dancing somehow made that worth it. Cool that you draw and write. Me too. Well, I don’t draw, but I make things with animated gifs which is … kind of like drawing? My week seems like a possible keeper at this point. Lots to do, the will to do it, but … we’ll see. Other than the pain or painkillers, how’s your week proceeding? ** Okay. Today I have restored another somewhat elderly but still cogent post by yet another lost distinguished local about the Danish artist/musician Knud Odde, not so well known in the outer realms, maybe, which seemed like one very good reason to re-up the introduction. Check him and his doings out please. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
*
ROCKIN POST DENNIS! I WAS WONDERIN IF I USE THAT ‘IT MAKES YOU LOOK YOUNGER’ PHONE APP ON SOME OF MY FRIENDS WHO ARE DEAD, DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT BRING EM BACK TO LIFE?
PEACE
@ Dandysweets, Knud Odde’s outsiderness is very much deserving of this reintroduction. Thank you for this, wherever you may be these days.
Re Succession, that’s really the only bit of TV I’m keen on right now. Mum wants us to rewatch the Sopranos but maybe I should just campaign to get our DVD subscription going again? There’s a universe of weird and wonderful films out there after all.
Dennis, Hahaha, right? Jack Lalanne was everywhere when I was a kid too. Like every morning show and even tons of late night appearances and then all those infomercials. Kerazy. Another one was Jack Hannah, the animal/zoo guy. Erp.
Yes, aging…but what are we gonna do? I guess aging well is the thing? I mean, trying our best to take care of ourselves? After a while, I think a lot of us are just like, pfft, whatevs. Seems that way.
Like my mom. Really, mostly all of what she eats is sweets. Tons of them. Cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, all types of that stuff. She’s 79 and somehow still kicking and is a tiny little thing.
Who knows anymore?
“Knud Oddie Day” is of course a Nude Oddie Day.
SING OUT UKRANIA !
nice imagery thanks Den! just been sorting through my paintings at my flat, I have probably way over a thousand paintings and sketches… it’s an ordeal as you can imagine…. yesterday I found a number that I don’t even remember doing…
I managed to get 12 pounds in weight off so I am overjoyed…. especially as my tooth situation left me unable to exercise until yesterday…
I’ve been told I must now shut up about my tooth, as I’ve been milking it a little… /going on and on about it….
Dennis, you’re thinking of Brand Books on Brand. One of my favorites used bookstores, and I loved their storefront window as well. And thank you for the Knud Odde introduction. I don’t know of him but now, very intrigued.
Hi!!
The photo with Andy Warhol is so sweet.
I actually learned about Nick Zedd here – either from a post focused on or mentioning transgressive cinema. I can’t remember which. The “About SCAB” section on SCAB’s homepage starts with a quote from him. (By the way, new SCAB issue in two weeks!!)
Haha, yeah, you’re right! Those might actually be bitchturd’s Jim Carrey faces! I think I’d… rather choose some other slaves from yesterday’s batch.
Love definitely knows how to have fun – and take others along for the ride, haha. Love banning all books whose blurb reads “The protagonist has the perfect life – until their husband dies, and they find out that he wasn’t who they’d thought he was”, Od.
Hey Coops thanks for the concern!
It is very much appreciated
I am liking the roast a lot,
suddenly on thinking about this tofu it is very much the overrated thing of the moment,
It’s just a curd to me!
I want to make a jokes about this tofu, but is too tasteless!
thanking for post of Nud Nod is,
I may make a drawing blindfolded and I am feeling very inspired!
I go
I come back,
watch out for flood this may be the river the sea or a tap left running
I go again
Hey Dennis,
Beautiful paintings. I mostly lack the vocabulary to talk about the visual arts, but they’re beautiful. Oh, I didn’t mean to suggest that nobody follows Bresson’s dictums. Just that I don’t know anybody who’s rejected the rest of cinema wholesale, whether that’s the type of film they make or not. It was funny, I was reading about this Cahiers du Cinéma piece where they had a private investigator follow Bresson around for a few weeks, and he was watching everything, apparently. Or maybe that’s just legendry—not that it’s of much consequence either way. “Notes…” definitely contains insights to live by, certainly for an artist. There will be a shoot where I get to direct. There are three roles—producer, cinematographer, director—that we rotate through the group for each project. I’m going to be director last, which I feel most comfortable with, because by then I’ll at least have a better grasp on the technology than I did yesterday. I just don’t know what I want to film, which is stressful, but I have time to think about it. For someone who doesn’t plan on pursuing filmmaking I sure do spend a lot of time thinking about films I’d like to make, but they’re all literary adaptations (embarrassing, I know), and not things I could make in this class besides. I’ll figure something out eventually, maybe. Film stuff mostly—good stuff? Progress? One hopes. I unwound from an exhausting day by watching Tati’s “Mon Oncle” with my dad (like “PlayTime”, which I prefer, it’s obviously genius and one of the most amazing things ever made, but also so exhausting that I feel totally wiped out by its finished) and then Araki’s “Totally Fucked Up” alone. There’s something about Araki’s sensibility that I just don’t vibe with on some level—a little too cheeky, stick-your-tongue-out, even theatre kid-y at times—but I do quite like aspects of the earlier movies, perhaps in spite of their sillier elements. Funny to see you get name-dropped in there, too. Tomorrow’s my day off and I plan on just crashing, and then finishing some writing for school. May your own mid-week be a little oasis from which to reflect on your past and anticipate the future.
Hey Dennis, Really cool post, I really like the Rimbaud/Verlaine a lot. I have a concert tomorrow night that I’m excited for I haven’t been to one in a little while. Other than that not sure what the week has for me/can’t remember if I made other plans. Just watched a very depressing but like ethereal documentary called Not Angels But Angels, I’d recommend it if you haven’t seen it already, it’s on youtube I believe. Sweet daydreams.
-Brandon