Carlos Quinto Kemm

Collage artwork by Carlos Quinto Kemm showcasing his unique artistic philosophy and achievements at Duende's Lair.

Awards and Grants

  • Roswell Artists-in-Residence Program, Roswell, NM
  • Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
  • Best of Show, 31st Annual International Juried Art, Roswell Art Museum, Roswell, NM
  • Award of Merit, Fine Arts Juried Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
  • Purchase Prize, Fine Arts Competition, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
  • First Place Award, Hispanic Artists Invitational, The Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM
  • Artist Teaching Residency, Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY

Selected Public Collections

  • The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
  • Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Roswell, NM
  • The Capitol Arts Collection, Santa Fe, NM
  • National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM

Carlos Quinto Kemm

Collage artwork by Carlos Quinto Kemm showcasing his unique artistic philosophy and achievements at Duende's Lair.

Awards and Grants

  • Roswell Artists-in-Residence Program, Roswell, NM
  • Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
  • Best of Show, 31st Annual International Juried Art, Roswell Art Museum, Roswell, NM
  • Award of Merit, Fine Arts Juried Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
  • Purchase Prize, Fine Arts Competition, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
  • First Place Award, Hispanic Artists Invitational, The Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM
  • Artist Teaching Residency, Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY

Selected Public Collections

  • The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
  • Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Roswell, NM
  • The Capitol Arts Collection, Santa Fe, NM
  • National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM

Metaphormations

Having begun my artistic career painting and drawing, in the late 70’s I began experimenting with the medium of collage. My early work began with simple, small flat collages. Over time, the technical demands have challenged me to evolve and refine unique techniques to communicate that visual language. Some works have required several years of single-minded effort to bring to completion.

Allied to visionary and mystical pathways, my work feeds my questing need to make sense of life’s purpose. It is my heartfelt desire to give visual dialogue to those levels beyond personal symbols that will speak of the complexities of modern life in an age of incomprehensible madness.

I believe the collage medium is a largely misunderstood, yet incredible visual tool to stimulate imaginative awakenings. After 40 years, I still find the collage medium fresh and innovative. I find its ability to communicate metaphorical language of man’s inner spiritual search ~ limitless.

I welcome this opportunity to share the fruits of many years. May your own imagination be sumptuously fed!”

– Carlos Quinto Kemm

Instagram

In Emblems, Carlos Quinto Kemm transforms identity into ceremonial theater. Armor, insects, wings, jewels, puppets, and classical ornament surround two hybrid figures who face one another like living coats of arms. The puppets deepen the sense of performance and control, suggesting the roles we inherit, rehearse, and sometimes struggle to escape. #beautifulbizarre #SurrealArt #FigurativeArt #PunchAndJudy #genx
In Emblems, identity becomes ceremonial armor. This detail gathers fragments of chivalry, science fiction, classical ornament, insects, beasts, and sacred imagery into one charged figure. Kemm suggests that the symbols we wear may protect us, but they also reveal the histories, fantasies, and fears attached to the body. #Emblems #BodyAsSymbol #MythAndIdentity #ModernSymbolism #FigurativeCollage
Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸 In Carlos Quinto Kemm’s This Gift…of Voting, American history, faith, power, conflict, hope, and contradiction converge in a dense visual tapestry. The work reminds us that democracy is not simply inherited—it is sustained through participation, vigilance, and the willingness to use our voices. On Independence Day, we celebrate freedom while recognizing the responsibility that accompanies it. The right to vote is both a hard-won gift and an enduring civic duty. #FourthOfJuly #IndependenceDay #Democracy #VotingMatters
Carlos Quinto Kemm’s painted dimensional collage centers on a powerful spider woman, poised within a richly layered world of tension, seduction, and control. Suspended below her is a man, posed like a butterfly and hanging from a spider’s silk line fashioned from gold metal wire. The piece evokes a charged interplay of dominance, vulnerability, and desire, drawing the viewer into a hauntingly beautiful web of symbolism and psychological drama. #ContemporaryArt #femmefatale #CollageArt #ArtCollectors #dimensionalart
In Emblems, Carlos Quinto Kemm creates two hybrid figures that face each other like living coats of arms. In this detail from Emblems, identity becomes ceremonial armor. Kemm layers insects, wings, dolls, metal, flowers, and decorative fragments into two figures that feel both powerful and fragile. The result is a visual meditation on how personal and cultural symbols attach themselves to the body. #IdentityInArt #BodyAsSymbol #SurrealFiguration #ArtAndMyth #ModernSymbolism
Liturgy of Loss by Carlos Quinto Kemm contemplates grief through a sacred visual language. A solitary woman sits weeping beside an elephant whose body is composed of crucifixion scenes drawn from art history, transforming the animal into a vessel of suffering, memory, and collective lament. Set against a luminous shoreline, the work becomes an altar to sorrow, sacrifice, and the enduring rituals of mourning. #LiturgyOfLoss #SacredArt #Crucifixion #MourningAndMemory #VisualPrayer
Liturgy of Loss by Carlos Quinto Kemm captures a weeping woman suspended in grief, her sorrow both deeply personal and almost sacred. Her bowed posture and tearful expression evoke the quiet rituals of mourning—where pain, memory, and devotion become a kind of prayer. #SacredArt #MourningAndMemory #ArtOfGrief #spiritualartistry
Seven works. Seven warnings. Seven reflections. Dictator on Day One Don’t Give Up Cavate! Cavate! (Beware! Beware!) Trumpty Dumpty This Gift… of Voting Hell Hounds… Again Vision Check Original art by Carlos Quinto Kemm.
Liturgy of Loss by Carlos Quinto Kemm — a quiet, ceremonial landscape of memory, grief, and transformation. The piece feels like a relic: intimate, weathered, and deeply contemplative. #duendeslair #christianartwork #NarrativeArt #contemplativeart #visionaryartists
Shameera by Carlos Quinto Kemm — a quiet presence with an unforgettable gaze. #MedusaArt #MythologyArt #SurrealArt #VisionaryArt #beautifulbizarre
Shameera by Carlos Quinto Kemm
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