Amalgamated Viscera [with Fleshflies]

The collage is a uniquely modern art form. Since the dawn of the 20th century, artists have cut and pasted pre-existing images to create new forms. One of today’s finest heirs to this modern tradition is Fleshflies. Hailing from Norway, she turns her knife to paper to craft lurid yet elegant composites of flesh and blood. Sure, her work might be disturbing to the faint of heart. But there is more than shock value and juvenile gross-out appeal where these flies gather. Fleshflies was kind enough to answer your humble editor’s inquires below.

When did you first begin making collages?

My first serious collage happened back in 2008. A friend of mine gave me a birthday present wrapped in vintage, amateur porn like a year earlier, and I kept it because I knew I had to do something with it. I just didn’t know what. Then, a year later I found a picture of the brilliant Norwegian artist Håkon Bleken, making a face at the camera. His old, wrinkled face gave me an idea of what cuts to make, and then I found some fish parts and the first collage just happened organically.  I fell in love with the medium immediately. 

Where do you find the printed materials for your work?

I work as a librarian, so I have ample access to discarded books and magazines. I also scour thrift shops for raw material every time I enter one. The collection of stuff at home is getting kind of ridiculous, but I sort it out roughly by category and at this point, I could make collages for years without ever sourcing a new book for it. Half of the collage game is finding the right pieces. If you (whoever reads this) want to get into it, just start collecting pages. 

What inspired you to start collaging?

I've always been making stuff, drawing painting – still do sometimes. I guess it was a combination of a need to be creative, being really into dada and like Kurt Schwitters at the time I started, and the fact that collage lets me go absolutely bat-shit, which really appeals to me.

Strong compositions are immediately apparent in your work. Do you compose these collages much beforehand or does the composition emerge spontaneously?

Thanks! Most times it starts with an idea in my head, but with collage, your range of movement is very much so guided by the raw material you have at hand. So sometimes pieces end up completely different than I had imagined. Often those are the pieces I like the best. I also always do the mirror test after they are done. If the weight of the picture sits right even when it’s mirrored, it’s a sign of the kind of balance I’m after. And totally lopsided stuff can pass the mirror test, it’s just a matter of where the weight lands for me. On super rare occasions, I make sketches of the idea I have. Mostly I just sit for hours on end with paper, scissors, a scalpel, and glue.

What are the biggest influences on your work?

Dada I already mentioned, extreme metal, the artwork on metal albums never stops to inspire me, good music in general, horror/gore/splatter/B-movies and aesthetics, filthy, dripping, dirty, nasty things, sex stuff, red wine, and artists like Bacon, Caravaggio, Schiele, Dix, medieval art, Bosch and Erik Tidemann. The list of artists could go on forever, but yeah – a selection. Oh, and an obsession with nature. Anatomy, animals, bugs, physics, chemistry, pathology, for instance. Whenever I go out in nature, you’ll find me ass up face down, looking at something worth investigating. 

Gore and viscera are prominent themes in your collages. What attracts you to these images?

I take a lot of inspiration from shit that has happened to me in the past. A way of working through trauma in a way. I’ve gotten injured many times and very often it happened to my mouth area. Blood, teeth, ripped flesh, surgery, and gore is just a part of the images that often pop up in my head. Of course, the interest in the natural world really helps with the nasty stuff. Nature is brutal. I love the look, feel, and texture of meat too. I collect meat commercials from spam snail-mail to use in my work. Oh, and my love for music, art, and movies sure has done a lot for my visual point of view.

Your collages would make for excellent grindcore album covers. Have you done any album artwork?

I’ve done some covers. Out so far are Tusmørke “Nordisk krim” (prog), Laserguys “Damn you laserguys” (grindcore, the cover was a collab with Linn Halvorsrød) and 3 covers for a new black metal outfit from Trondheim, Issolei. Have some covers on the way too, for a hip-hop project, a noise band, a noise collective, a blackened rock band, and a few days ago I sent a file to another grind band.