Carlos Schongut

I am a photographer and visual artist, born in Uruguay,
working between Buenos Aires and Italy — two shores, one restlessness.
I like to combine what shouldn’t be combined:
strange fragments,
bizarre echoes,
daily life turned inside out.
I challenge habits —
religion wears a paper crown,
the environment forgets its green etiquette.
Billboards call to me like broken prayers.
I answer with scissors.
I create collage not to decorate,
but to react —
to the mercenary smiles of the advertising industry.
All my works are 100% hand-made:
no digital illusions, no shortcuts.
I steal from old magazines, forgotten illustrations, wandering stickers, and famous paintings tired of being framed.
I do not merely assemble images:
I awaken them from their long sleep,
and invite them to misbehave.

I studied Marketing (ha!).
I studied Communication (double ha!).
At Universidad del Salvador — Buenos Aires — City of echoes and torn posters.
I did not study Art.
Art studied me.
On walls. On taxi radios.
At Centro Cultural Recoleta,
inside the folds of Sergio Langer’s newspaper dreams (La Nelly!!!),
in cartoon screams and glued-together prayers.
Late — yes —
Better late than trained.
Seminars. Workshops. Crossroads.
I walked into them. I walked out different.
I let Mauricio Kartun sew theater into my bloodstream.
I cut.
I rip.
I laugh at angels.
I cry at pop stars.
I dance over the ruins of sacred cows.
Mimmo Rotella whispers in one ear.
León Ferrari burns letters in the other.
Marcos López paints my nightmares fluorescent.
Egon Schiele twists my muscles.
Emil Nolde blinds me in red.
I am proudly self-taught.
Which means:
I am a beautiful accident.
I am a mistake worth repeating.

2024 – L’arte di Dory, Florence
A framed feminist Madonna was traded for a meal and hung above the cashier.
It was declared outrageous by offended diners and removed within days, thus achieving the rare status of being censored while on loan for lasagna.

2020 – Painting Sold to Decorator, Now in West Village
New York, USA
Not a collector, not a gallerist — a decorator. Still, a painting made it into a chic West Village flat, posing now as high-end spiritual wallpaper.

2019 – Timbre8, Palermo District (Buenos Aires)
Argentina
A solo show in a hidden cultural space behind closed doors (literally — you had to knock).
Debut of Rotella-inspired collages. One was sold and now silently watches tourists from the walls of an Airbnb.

2017 – Miami Art Week (Online Selection)
Miami, USA
Back when online shows still felt a little rebellious, I was featured on the curated section of Miami Art Week.
No sales, no selfies with curators — but he was officially "there."