Collection: Kristian Andersen

Kristian Andersen, born in 1980 in Skanderborg, Denmark, is a self-taught multi-media artist. He works with painting, drawing, print, photography and installations.

For Kristian, art is intrinsically connected with living: “..art is dynamic, putting things in motion which were passive before; something in you is changed when you have seen or created a work”. Creating is the only thing he feels so deeply in doing, and the only thing he knows how to do. With art, Kristian is a step closer to understanding a world which is mysterious to him. 

For him, all people are full of potential, and he is interested in making us use this potential to its fullest. It happens in the moment where everything is possible, and nothing is too small to notice – like the dust dancing in a ray of sunlight. It is in these moments where we are simply existing, letting go of all consciousness, thoughts and reflection, that we can tap into our potential. These flashes of pure existence is the energy, which Kristian uses to create his art: it is a pulse or a rhythm, which works restlessly and random, but which with this energy assembles itself to a melody. When he is ready, he frames himself with rules and readies the room for creation. 

These rules are the foundation for creating his expressive and relevant works; in between his many associations and distractions, he must have structure and regulation. In a dark room, these rules function as a mold in which he can act. An example of these could be to work fast, as to catch the energy and burn through, both in the movement of the body and in the moment of conflict and clashes. For this purpose, he often uses many different tools, which can both create and destroy – knives, pencils, brushes and vulnerable home-made instruments. It could also be the usage of certain colors – but never black. When Kristian’s works seem black, it is necessary to let the eye get used to the darkness. Only then it is possible to see the many colors used to create the blackness, and to observe the motives that step forward.

Kristian defines his art as “art brut”, which from French translates as “raw art”, and is synonym with outsider art. The position of an outsider if not only mental or social, but it is also a conscious choice of not wishing to identify himself within the normative limitations of society, politics and perspectives.