Pia Andersen Art: Following her own artistic path
By Heidi Kokborg | Photos: Pedro Luis Jiménez Arnaiz
For more than four decades, Danish artist Pia Andersen has explored the world through paint, colour and texture. From scholarships in Poland and Mexico to an atelier surrounded by nature in Spain, her artistic journey has never followed the obvious route. Instead, it has been guided by curiosity, craftsmanship and a determination to create work that is entirely her own.
Pia Andersen has spent her entire career as an artist. After studying at the Design School Kolding, she received a scholarship that took her to the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in the early 1980s. What was meant to be a one-year stay became two and proved to be a defining chapter in her artistic development.
“It was an incredible experience,” says Pia Andersen. “Professionally, I learned so much, but I also discovered that limitations can be incredibly creative. Materials were scarce in Poland at the time, so you had to think differently and find new solutions. That has stayed with me ever since.”
Pia Andersen.
Rather than following a conventional career path, Andersen continued to seek out places that challenged her. Another scholarship later brought her to Mexico, where she immersed herself in local traditions, landscapes and artistic techniques while writing articles about handmade paper and pre-Columbian craftsmanship.
“I’ve always followed my own slightly crooked path,” Pia Andersen explains. “Travelling has never been about ticking places off a list. I like staying somewhere long enough to create a daily life. I look at the art, talk to people, experience the food and the landscape. All of those impressions become part of what I create.”
Inspired by the world and nature
Although the artist has travelled extensively, nature remains her greatest source of inspiration. Today she divides her time between her home in Copenhagen and her studio in rural Spain, where she has spent more than 25 years surrounded by vast landscapes.
“It isn’t about looking at one specific tree or flower. I take in everything around me. The changing seasons, the textures, the colours, the way the light shifts throughout the day. Then I mix it all together and it becomes something entirely new,” says Pia Andersen.
Those experiences emerge in paintings that are unmistakably abstract yet deeply rooted in nature. Rather than depicting landscapes directly, she builds her compositions layer by layer, allowing colour and texture to create an atmosphere that feels both familiar and open to interpretation. “The colours in nature are never flat. Everything is built up in layers. Flowers bloom and fade, leaves change colour, light transforms everything. I try to create that same depth in my paintings.”
Throughout her career, Pia Andersen has found inspiration in artists who each approached colour, material and composition in distinctive ways. Among those who have influenced her most are Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo, American abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell, Polish sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz, German artist Gerhard Richter, and the Spanish masters Francisco de Zurbarán and Diego Velázquez.
Art in dialogue with architecture
Alongside her gallery exhibitions, she has increasingly devoted herself to large-scale site-specific commissions, creating artworks designed specifically for the spaces they inhabit.
One of her most recent projects was a complete artistic commission for Dansk Auto Logik’s headquarters in Vamdrup, where she created 14 large paintings that respond to the building’s architecture, light and atmosphere. Earlier commissions include works for the Danish Parliament, the Copenhagen Opera House and the Forest School in Nødebo. “I love these projects because every space is different,” she says. “I visit the building, study the light, measure everything and get a feeling for the people who will use it. Even though my paintings are abstract, they still need to belong to the space.”
That dialogue between artwork and architecture has also led Pia Andersen beyond painting. While she still describes herself as a painter, she regularly collaborates with specialist workshops to create porcelain, glass and ceramic works. Her newest porcelain collection was produced at Tommerup Ceramic Workshop, where repeated firings, glazes and gold detailing bring each piece to life.
The freedom of abstraction
Perhaps the greatest strength of Andersen’s work is that it never dictates what the viewer should see. She remembers exhibiting at the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, when a visitor came up to her. “She said, ‘I like the one with the camels.’ It was a yellow and orange painting, and I had never once thought about camels. But that’s exactly what I love about abstract art. People bring their own experiences and stories with them.”
Rather than giving her paintings descriptive titles, Pia Andersen deliberately keeps them open, allowing viewers to create their own narratives. “Abstract painting allows everything to mix together. You can create entirely new landscapes and new worlds. The painting becomes a catalyst for someone else’s story.”
Pia Andersen’s work can be experienced through ARTSY, Galerie Provence in Denmark and Whitesquare Gallery in Berlin.
Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Web: www.piaandersen.com
Facebook: Pia Andersen Artist
Instagram: @piaandersenartes
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