Interview with Christian Andersen

Few days ago i discovered and featured Christian Andersen's work. I was fascinated by his art direction and vision of creativity and i wanted to uncover more. Lucky for me he agreed and had a pleasant interview with the multi-talented young sensation on his work, love for New York, creativity and more. Enjoy!

Can you please tell readers a bit about yourself. 

My name is Christian Andersen and I am 18 years old. I’m a full time student and part time artist. 

I express myself through painting, design & photography.

When did you start out as an artist? 

I have always liked drawing but never thought I’d be doing today. I went to the United States as an exchange student back in 09/10 and got a chance to take a couple of art and photography classes. 

I got so interested in art and design, I decided to take it to the next level when I came back to Europe.

I launched my website hereafter and it has all been moving really fast ever since.

I watched your video interview and you talked about living in New York. I also see a lot of New York influence in some of your artworks. What kind of impact has your experiences from NYC had on you? 

New York is my absolute favorite city. I've been there three times now and it never gets boring or uninteresting. There’s really a lot of stuff to see there, especially if you go explore the city outside the normal tourist attractions. There’s always a special kind of vibe and rhythm in New York that you can’t find elsewhere. The cultural differences, creative individuals and urban art scene is really what makes me keep coming back.

What is your favorite spot in New York? 

My absolute favorite spot or area in New York is definitely the Lower East Side. There is so many influencing people working out of there, doing their own thing. It’s filled with design studios, nice cafés and creative individuals. I always feel this young and artistic atmosphere when I’m there.

2dots-What keeps you motivated for all the different projects and artworks you do?

I find a lot motivation by following other creative individuals career. There’s really a lot of creative people out there and seeing them succeeding really motivates me. I have this that I’m chasing some kind of imaginary goal I don’t know what is yet. The fact that my future is so uncertain at this point and I don’t know where I’ll be in 2 years, really motivates me. The fact that I have no clue of where I am headed, just makes me hungry for more.

Your works are very colorful. What does color mean to you?

I really like working with high saturated colors. I find the whole technique of making the colors blend well with each other and create some kind of balance between them really interesting. I think the very colors bring some kind young and modern look to the artwork.

What made you do The Street Aesthetic Series? 

When I published the first video in ‘The Street Aesthetic’ series from New York this summer, I never thought of it as anything special. I actually never intended to use the recordings for a video. I happened to come across some of the recordings I shot in New York when I got home and decided to try out editing it into a short video, highlighting the street aesthetic and vibe of New York. So it was really a kind of incident. After the huge respond and attention I got from the New York video, I decided to continue the series, most recently with a video focusing on the street aesthetic of Berlin.

How do you go about film-making compared to the other kind art you do?

Film-making has never been my primary focus point. And it will never be. I really like exploring the different fields of art and that is also the reason why I decided to go ahead and try out my capabilities in producing videos. But at this point the majority of my creative time is spend working on paintings, designs and of course the Creative Future Project. This is where my true love for art is rooted.

What is your perfect working mode like? 

It actually depends. Sometimes I feel most comfortable working on late nights, but in the weekends I like spending the whole day working on different projects. There’s always music though, I can’t work without listening to music. I also carry my sketchbook and camera with me at all times, so it’s not like I need to be in a special environment before I can work.

How would you define creativity?

Creativity to me is creating something out of nothing. I think creativity is one of the most spiritual things an individual can posse. Another thing is that it is really hard to bottle and control. You can’t force creativity, so it is really a hard thing to manage. But to me creativity is about creating something that has not been seen before. Creating something new and innovative.


Web: www.CAndersenArts.com
Twitter: @CAndersenArts