Erik August Frandsen (born April 20, 1957) is a Danish contemporary artist. In the early 1980s Erik A. Frandsen was part of the artistic movement '' de unge vilde'' (the young wild ones red.) and in 1981, he co-founded the

artist collective An artist collective is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything that is relevant to the need ...

''Værkstedet Værst'' with prominent working with artists such as Lars Nørgård and

Christian Lemmerz Christian Lemmerz (born January 30, 1959) is a German-Danish sculptor and visual artist who attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, Italy, from 1978 to 1982 and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1983 to 1988. Despite classical ...

. He currently works from studios in Copenhagen, Nordfalster and Como, Italy.

Early life

Erik A. Frandsen was born and grew up in a middle-class home in a small village outside of Randers, Denmark with his parents and as the second of four siblings. As a teenager Erik A. Frandsen saw the Danish artist

Poul Gernes Poul is a Danish masculine given name. It is the Danish cognate of the name Paul. Poul may refer to: People * Poul Andersen (1922–2006), Danish printer *Poul Anderson (1926–2001), American writer * Poul Erik Andreasen (born 1949), Danish fo ...

(1925-1996) wrapping himself head to toe in toilet paper on the evening news. The contrast, discrepancy of this act to his own suburban everyday life appealed to Erik A. Frandsen immensely. He wanted to become an artist himself. In the years 1976-79, Erik A. Frandsen travelled to hone his craft. He spent time in Greece studying

ceramic 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, porcelai ...

s, in

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mott ...

, Italy working with

sculpture 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 ...

s and in Paris, France exploring graphics. In 1981 he moved to Copenhagen to pursue a career in arts.

Work / Career

Erik A. Frandsen is an autodidact artist and has no formal academic training. His career took off in the early 1980s and he played a major role in the breakthrough happening on the Danish art scene at the time. Frandsen finds inspiration for his artworks in the intimate situations in everyday life, in the history of art and from the artists he has encountered and worked alongside through time. His inspiration is diverse, and he gazes towards the

art-deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United ...

and

rococo art Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

as well as

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

- and

neo-pop Neo-pop (also known as New Pop) is a postmodern art movement of the 1980s and 1990s. Context Defined as a resurgence of the aesthetics and ideas from the mid-20th century movement capturing the characteristics of Pop art like intentional kitsc ...

artists such as

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

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-Surface fi ...

and

Gary Hume Gary Stewart Hume (born 9 May 1962) is an English artist. Hume's work is strongly identified with the YBA who came to prominence in the early 1990s. Hume lives and works in London and Accord, New York.

. To this day Erik A. Frandsen still continues an ongoing exploration of lines and perspectives that is central to his artistic expression.

Style

The mediums and materials explored by Erik A. Frandsen are extensive and varied. From rubber,

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now creat ...

s, boxes and fluorescent

tube lights A fluorescent lamp, or fluorescent tube, is a low-pressure mercury-vapor gas-discharge lamp that uses fluorescence to produce visible light. An electric current in the gas excites mercury vapor, which produces short-wave ultraviolet li ...

to mere traditional

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest o ...

. Later materials and techniques include, but are not limited to, monumental

venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

glass-mosaics as well as large reflective stainless-steel surfaces that have been treated with polishing tools to “paint” sensuous flowers. It is a bold choice, creating an obvious and intense clash between material and motive by letting heavy metal and the honing of a drilling machine replace canvas and brush. Erik A. Frandsen’s oeuvre is characterized by experimentation but also by a recycling of motives and an application of these to various mediums. When applied to the different mediums the same motive resume radically different expressions, allowing for new perspectives and meaning to surface. Among the recurrent motives are the artist's family, classic

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

s and flower compositions. Though these motives are widely represented and generally easily recognizable in the arts throughout history, Erik A. Frandsen manages to rethink and grant them new life. His flower motives are not flower motives the traditional sense, but weeds such as thistles and dandelions placed in urine bottles and kitsch vases as is seen in his pieces for the decoration of the royal home i
Frederik VIIIs Palace
in 2010.

Selected public works / commissions

* 2020 Til J. H. mosaic staircase at Rigshospitalets Nordfløj, Copenhagen * 2014 Landstingssalen at

Christiansborg Palace Christiansborg Palace ( da, Christiansborg Slot; ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament ('), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Sup ...

, Copenhagen * 2010 Frederik VIII’s Palace,

Amalienborg Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo interiors aroun ...

, Copenhagen * 2004 The Royal Danish Opera

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2019 ''Erik A. Frandsen I museets samling'' Horsens Kunstmuseum * 2017 ''Flower Angels'' Hans Alf Gallery * 2015 ''Pilgrimage for an Armchair Explorer'' Horsens Kunstmuseum and Hans Alf Gallery * 2012 ''Between Memory and Theft'' Red Brick Contemporary Art Museum * 2009 ''Frozen Moment Desert'' Faurschou Foundation Beijing * 2008 ''The Double Space. Retrospective exhibition of works from 1982-2008'' ARoS * 2007 ''The Real. Unnaturalism''

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek ("ny" means "new" in Danish; "Glyptotek" comes from the Greek root ''glyphein'', to carve, and ''theke'', storing place), commonly known simply as Glyptoteket, is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection ...

* 2004 ''Glansbilleder'' Nationalmuseet and Faurschou Foundation CPH * 2002 ''In the Shadow of Light'' Kunstmuseet Brandts * 2002 ''Gidsel'' Galerie Asbæk * 1993 ''Frandsen til Kirkeby''

ARoS Aros may refer to: * Aros (Middle-earth), a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium * Aros, Mull, the location of Aros Castle, a ruined 13th-century castle on the Isle of Mull, Scotland *AROS Research Operating System, a free software ...

Selected group exhibitions

* 2018 ''34 år 34 værker'' Horsens Kunstmuseum * 2017 ''Kunsten i lyset – lyset i kunsten'' Sophienholm * 2015 ''Fantasi og følelser: ekspressionistisk grafik''

* 2014 ''På kant med Kirkegaard'' Kunstcentret Silkeborg Bad * 2013 ''

Flora Danica ''Flora Danica'' is a comprehensive atlas of botany from the Age of Enlightenment, containing folio-sized pictures of all the wild plants native to Denmark, in the period from 1761 to 1883. History ''Flora Danica'' was proposed by G. C. Oede ...

'' Statens Naturhistoriske Museum * 2012 ''Underværker – mesterværker fra danske privatsamlinger''

Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art is located in Aalborg, Denmark, on Kong Christians Allé near its junction with Vesterbro. Of a modern Scandinavian design, it was built between 1968 and 1972 by Finnish architects Elissa and Alvar Aalto and Danish a ...

* 2012 ''Dansk og international kunst efter 1900''

Nationalmuseet The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from Strøget ...

* 2010 ''De vilde 80ere''

Arken Museum of Modern Art ARKEN Museum of Modern Art ( da, ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst) is a private non-for-profit charity, state authorised, contemporary art museum in Ishøj near Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The museum is amongst Denmark's major contemporary a ...

* 2005 ''

Michael Kvium Michael Otto Albert Kvium (born 15 November 1955) is a Danish artist. He has excelled in a number of fields such as painting, illustrating, sculpting and various performance genres. Since the early 1980s, he has created grotesque realistic works, ...

, Christian Lemmerz, Erik A. Frandsen''  Galleri Brandstrup  * 2005 ''Carnegie Art Award 2005''

Henie Onstad Kunstsenter The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter is an art museum located at Høvikodden in Bærum municipality in Viken county, Norway. It is situated on a headland jutting into the Oslofjord, approximately southwest of Oslo. History The artcentre was fou ...

* 2005 ''Flower Myth.

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

'' Foundation Beyler, Switzerland * 2005 ''Særudstilling i Cisternerne''

Cisternerne Cisternerne is an exhibition space for contemporary art in Copenhagen, Denmark with one annual site-specific total experience - and a wide range of events during the year. Cisternerne is an integral part of the Frederiksberg Museums (''Frederiksber ...

og Museet for Moderne Glaskunst * 2004 ''Blomsten som billede''

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and con ...

Humlebæk Erik A. Frandsen exhibited his work for the first time in 1981.

Selected awards / recognitions

* Thorvaldsens medalje (2016) * Ridderkorset af Dannebrogsordenen (2015) *

Statens Kunstfond The Danish Arts Foundation ( Danish: Statens Kunstfond) is the principal Danish government funded arts foundation founded by a special Law on 27 May 1964. Statens Kunstfond alongside the :da:Statens Kunstråd (English sometimes State Arts Council ...

s livsvarige hædersydelse (2014) * Eckersberg medalje (1996) * Elected for

Documenta IX DOCUMENTA IX was the ninth edition of documenta, a quinquennial contemporary art exhibition. It was held between 13 June and 20 September 1992 in Kassel, Germany. The artistic director was Jan Hoet in collaboration with Bart de Baere, Denys ...

in Kassel (1992) – as the first Danish artist in history In 2010 Erik A. Frandsen was chosen to decorate the royal Frederik VIII’s Palæ together with acclaimed artists like

Tal R Tal Rosenzweig (born 1967), known as Tal R, is a Danish artist based in Copenhagen. Life and work Tal R was born in Israel and moved to Denmark with his family when he was one year old. He studied at Billedskolen, Copenhagen, from 1986 to 1988 and ...

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson ( is, Ólafur Elíasson; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's ...

and Jesper Christiansen.

Collections

Esbjerg Kunstmuseum The Esbjerg Art Museum ( da, Esbjerg Kunstmuseum) is an independently owned art museum in Esbjerg in southwest Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1910, in 1962 it moved into a new building in the City Park designed by Jytte og Ove Tapdrup. Since 1997, ...

. Fuglbjerg Kunstmuseum.

HEART The heart is a muscular organ found in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon diox ...

. Horsens Kunstmuseum. Kanstrupgårdsamlingen.

. Kupferstich Kabinett. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Humlebæk. Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst.

(DK). Nasjonal Museet for Kunst, Arkitektur och Design (NO).

Randers Kunstmuseum Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Scherings Museum of Realist Art. Storstrøm Kunstmuseum.

Trapholt Trapholt is a museum of contemporary art and design located in Kolding, Denmark. It opened in 1988 and was previously named Trapholt Kunstmuseum (Trapholt Museum of Art) but its increasing focus on the broader arts lead to its shortened name. It ...

Trondheim Kunstmuseum The Trondheim Art Museum ( no, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, previously ''Trøndelag Kunstgalleri'') is an art museum located in Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The museum shows temporary exhibitions of international and regional art in dia ...

. Trondheims Kunstforenings samling. Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum.

Vejle Kunstmuseum Vejle Museum of Art ( da, Vejle Kunstmuseum) in the town centre of Vejle in southeastern Jutland, Denmark has Danish paintings and sculptures from classic modernism up until pre- COBRA on display. The museum is also home to a collection of Golden ...

Art Market

Erik A. Frandsen in represented by
Galleri Brandstrup
in Oslo, Copenhagen base
Hans Alf Gallery
an
Galleri Profilen
in Aarhus. His work has been exhibited at international art fairs, such a
Art BrusselsMarket Art Fair
in Stockholm
Enter Art Fair
in Copenhagen,

Art Cologne Art Cologne is an art fair held annually in Cologne, Germany and was established in 1967 as ''Kölner Kunstmarkt''. It is regarded as the world's oldest art fair of its kind. The fair runs for six days and brings together galleries from more than ...

an
Pulse Contemporary

References

* https://erikafrandsen.dk/biography/ * https://kunstonline.dk/profil/erik_frandsen.php * http://denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Billedkunst/Billedkunst%2c_Danmark_generelt/Værkstedet_Værst {{DEFAULTSORT:Frandsen, Erik August 1957 births Living people Danish contemporary artists Neo-expressionist artists