Born 1976 in Aalborg, Denmark.
Living in a small city on the outskirts of what seemed far away from the city of Aalborg provided Morten with a lot of silence and empty space to fill, especially the silence was draining for a young kid with a crooked mind. That sparked the creativity in him and the force of being curious that soon led him to discover the innovative culture of hip hop and especially graffiti writing. An artistic approach he spent 10 years on before starting to move towards painting abstract paintings on canvas in the early 2000s.
Morten Andersen works in a new form of expressionistic abstraction with touches of futurism and vorticism and the earlier path of graffiti with its raw energy and hints of letters can also be recognized at times. He creates with brushes, markers, spray paint, acrylics and over all there is a tight, graphic touch to it. Sometimes stencilling lends a hand to the process as well. There are always many levels going at the same time in Mortens compositions due to the transparency factor that always has been a key element in his works. You almost see all layers appearing at once, so the search never ends for the viewer as everything is interlinked and therefore keeps on going deeper.
It is intriguing, alluring, wild, almost impossible, complex and never a second is left for the viewer where he is not searching or trying to figure out.
Just like it should be.
Actually, you can say he does not really paint as in the words traditional understanding. He is more of a composer who uses the brushes, paints and other materials in untraditional ways. Always seeking the not know way of doing things to create something original and unseen. Like fx cutting brushstrokes off with a cloth to have them appear more graphic and have a less painted look, to make you wonder how it is done.
He spends enormous amounts of time on his paintings because he is a curious soul that wants an exciting composition and the visual aesthetics must stand out on every canvas.
“A painting should provide an interesting look into the mind of the artist and what he tries to express and the visual journey for the audience should take up their full concentration to understand what is actually going on or else it´s not worth it” he says.
More than 17 years ago he joined his first gallery group exhibition at a local gallery in Aalborg city. Since then his works have been featured in numerous solo shows, group shows, collaborations, awards, projects and many art fairs around the world.
In 2010 he had a 5 year stay in Berlin which propelled his artistic expressions even further out in the world. Now he is back and resides in Denmark again working in his studio on the old east harbour water front.
Listen to the heliumTALK Podcast with Morten Andersen: