Glen Andersen

Biography

Glen Andersen is a Richmond-based artist specializing in public and community art
with a focus on plaza enhancements using mosaics of tile and pebble. He has been
engaged in this realm of activity since 1995, with prior focus on independent film-making
and art-based activism on issues related to land-use. At heart he is a surrealist, blending
the visible with the invisible.


His public artworks are designed to respond to a site’s geographic and historical
specificity, conjuring invisible or buried aspects of a given location, targeting the
viewer’s imagination as a way to deeper understanding of place. This means that the
overarching (and underlying) natural context of the location (often buried by
urbanization) is foregrounded in the imagery, materials and metaphors used.


Since moving to Richmond in 2008, he has come to appreciate the uniqueness of this
place, with its natural and agricultural origins and is applying his philosophy and
strategies of public art here when opportunities arise.