christian andersson

Iannis Xenakis' Pléïades: IV: Mélanges

"Do one thing everyday that scares you." This quote from Eleanor Roosevelt kicked off artist Christian Andersson's talk. Based in Wisconsin, his works comprise of paintings and performance installation pieces. He explained how he always comes back to this quote; in his art, in his life, in all aspects he tries to do something everyday that scares him a little. 

With Andersson's art he creates things to explain how he is feeling. One of his big works makes commentary on social media, specifically Twitter. He transcribed his Twitter feed. Using ling sheets of butcher paper he copied everything he read, titled The Scriptorium. He describes how he spent 6 months transcribing current events, the paper spanning around 330 square feet. 

The Scriptorium

He also works with abstract paintings. The White and Black Series of his are both part of his three year long Social Amnesia project that The Scriptorium was also a part of. His paintings are vibrant and consuming. 

The White Series

He advised everyone to share, be authentic, and feel the pain. This truly is what goes into art. The ability and willingness to be yourself and put yourself out there through your art. I do this myself through my films, as Andersson does through his paintings and performance pieces. 

What I found really cool was the arts review journal he created called fsm. It offers up an open platform for artists to share their work, upcoming events, reviews, etc. He described how much it has grown since the start and made an impact.