Carmen loves creating characters, and reading her interview made me smile, because she really is a character herself! Her collages are twisted, distorted, and yes, violent. But who says that's not wonderful! Collage is all about being different, because you can't copy—it's impossible to copy—and even using the exact same materials we all think differently. Her work is a little creepy, yes, but I love it. Don't you?
Name (Real or Screename): Carmen Burguess
URL (Blog, Website): www.carmenburguess.com
Location (Where are you from?): Buenos Aires, Argentina, currently living between Barcelona and Berlín.
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: The Body is The Spirit's Dog.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: Fashion & women's magazines or hairdresser's catalogues for my collages & dolls for my objects, I find everything in the garbage in the street.
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A:I started in 2004 with "Bosque Clínico" (Clinical Forest), a magazine wich I made in colaboration with Rey SalOmem by air mail Buenos Aires-Madrid. He's a collage artist, sadly we have never met in person. He introduced me in the world of collage and the basics of the Dadá movement, which totaly fascinated me in the beginning. But gradually I left behind Dadá aesthetics looking for a collage form similar to what I have always made: drawings. I'm not into Dadà, I'm into making characters, I use the pieces of paper for give life to characters from my imagination.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I play along with Tomás Nochteff in a band called Mueran Humanos (wich means "die human"), it's a duo, I play synth, sing and write songs.
I'll be having two collage exhibitions in Berlin this year and we'll play in both openings, also we use my collages for the artwork of our albums.
A: I attended School of Arts in my teens, but found it useless and extremely disappointing. Anyway, I had a lot of fun (for all the wrong reasons).
Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: I stick adhesive tape over actress' or model's faces on magazines and then I tear it up and end with pieces of her face. It's violent and it feels really good, I enjoy it. I like to play with them, ripping them up and then creating with their pieces a character with whom I can feel empathy. This is the basic process.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: "La Fiesta" ("The Party"): It's a girl on fire, standing in a closed space, she's burning alive but I can't tell if she's suffering or having a good time.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: Jan Švankmajer, Harmony Korine, Charles Burns, Genesis P. Orridge, Morrissey, Mark E. Smith, Eartha Kitt, Tomás Nochteff, Charles Hayward, Alan Vega, Arthur Rimbaud, Edward Gorey, Bette Davis, Mujercitas Terror, Coil, Diane Arbus, Lewis Carroll, Goya, Werner Herzog, Murnau, Nico, Charlemagne Palestine, Saki, Javier Calvo, Pedro Amodio, Jenniffer Jason-Leigh, Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Clowes, Ray Caesar, Joe Coleman, Mark Ryden, Egon Schiele, David Lynch and my fellow collage artist Adriana Petit comes to my mind now.
Thanks Carmen!
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wow...wonderful characters and very inspiring!