Carmen Calvo

Carmen Calvo, born Carmen Calvo Sáenz de Tejada in Valencia in1950, is a Spanish multimedia artist working in sculpture, collage, photography, painting, ceramics, installation, and performance art. Drawing on religious themes and informed by avant-garde Surrealism and Pop Art movements, Calvo’s work is characterized by reappropriation of both physical material and cerebral concepts. From her use of pottery fragments reminiscent of her youth employment at a ceramic factory to her “public interventions” which strike a chord similar to that of 1960’s Viennese Actionism, Calvo’s body work is a cultural collage constructed with many media.

Calvo began her collegiate studies in advertising at Valencia’s School of Arts and Crafts in 1965. From 1969 to 1972, she studied at the School of Fine Arts, also in Valencia. Calvo later moved to Madrid then Paris shortly after, where she would remain until the early 90’s. In 1990, she began executing intervention pieces. Calvo is featured in the exhibition programming and permanent collections of many notable institutions such as The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art, Madrid, and the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum, Madrid. Calvo has received numerous scholarships throughout her career, presented in the 1997 Venice Biennale, and amassed an extensive list of accolades including Spain’s 2013 National Plastic Arts Award. Calvo currently resides in Valencia.

Submitted by Modernism Inc.