In the early 1980s Erik A. Frandsen was part of the artistic movement de unge vilde[1] (the young wild ones red.)
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 (1925-1996) wrapping himself head to toe in toilet paper on the evening news.
He spent time in Greece studying ceramics, in Carrara, Italy working with sculptures and in Paris, France exploring graphics.
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 and rococo art as well as pop- and neo-pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Gary Hume.
Later materials and techniques include, but are not limited to, monumental venetian 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.
[6] 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.
In 2010 Erik A. Frandsen was chosen to decorate the royal Frederik VIII’s Palæ together with acclaimed artists like Tal R, Olafur Eliasson and Jesper Christiansen.