Christian Pontus Andersson (born 1977) is a Swedish artist and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, living in

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Christian Pontus Andersson was born in the small town of Brattfors, county of

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

, in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. First working as a television journalist, Andersson hesitated between studying plastic surgery or becoming an artist.http://magdalena.vima.se/konstskribent/13-konstkritik/501-christian-pontus-andersson.html He started studying

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

at Konstfack, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, in Stockholmhttp://www.vi-tidningen.se/templates/ArticlePage.aspx?id=10495 in 2002. During his studies, he opened a ceramic workshop in the Chinese “porcelain capital” of

Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city in eastern Jiangxi province with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at least 1,0 ...

where he produced his master's degree project, the large-scale baroque series ''Cry Me the Sorrows'' (2007). Combining both high artistic and craftsmanship levels, his work gained a lot of attention at the annual Spring exhibition, and led to his first acclaimed solo exhibition at Christian Larsen Gallery (Aerea). Andersson has also exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Stockholm, and he has participated in group exhibitions in Tokyo, Munich, Frankfurt, and Milan. The National Museum owns his 2007 sculpture ''Guard for Tears''; he is also represented in the collection of the

Röhsska Museum The Röhsska Museum (, earlier named ''Röhsska konstslöjdsmuseet'', also known as Design Museum), is located in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is a museum focused on design, fashion and applied arts. The museum collection consists of over 50,000 obj ...

with two works. The work of Christian Pontus Andersson balances between kitsch and stringent form, creating a contrast between the extravagant homoerotic appearances of the figures and the fragile material of which they are made. As sources of inspiration, Andersson mentions Czech artist

Alphonse Mucha Alfons Maria Mucha (; 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator, and graphic artist. Living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, he was widely known for his distinctly stylized ...

, and his work also resembles that of

Matthew Barney Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...

and

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror- finish s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Christian Pontus 1977 births Living people Konstfack alumni Swedish male sculptors 21st-century Swedish sculptors People from Filipstad Municipality 21st-century Swedish male artists