Máximo Tuja—aka Max-o-matic—is a collage artist and illustrator who thinks of his work as "something between alchemy, craft and illusionism." Among his recent projects for the likes of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Phish is the cover of Different Leaf's Art Issue. We spoke to Tuja about his creative practice, inspirations, and how he came to develop the design for our collectible new issue.

DL: How do you describe your work?

MT: I make collages that don't always look like what most people think when they think about collages. I cut, paste and transform pre-existing visual assets (with my hands and/or my computer) to reconfigure their core structure and turn them into something completely different from what they were initially meant for.

DL: What are some of your favorite projects you've worked on?

MT: There are very few projects that I do not enjoy. I always take something from each project.

From the last few months I can highlight the summer-long collaboration I had with The New Yorker, creating a weekly animated illustration for their Songs of the Summer series. In this series, each week a different, extremely talented person wrote about their choice for the song of the summer ranging from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wilson Phillips and Pop Smoke to Drake or Daft Punk. Each one gave me a different story to illustrate and animate. It was a ton of fun and I'm very proud of the outcome.

DL: Do you have any creative rituals?

MT: I enjoy drinking mate, the South American herbal infusion, every morning. I was born in Argentina, but I have lived in Barcelona for the last 25 years, and even though mate is something that 99% of people drink in my home country, I had never done it until last year. Now it's one of my daily rituals.

DL: What music do you have on repeat lately?

MT: Each project asks for some specific kind of music, right? Last week I was working with a playlist featuring all Rolling Stones songs that have Keith Richards as lead vocals.

On a totally different vibe, I've been listening a lot to Pleats, by 9ms. It's perfect to listen to while making collages. If you want to listen to what I like when I'm making collages, here's a playlist I made some time ago that I still love.

DL: How did you approach the cover for Different Leaf's Art Issue?

MT: I read Mr. Karen's story a couple of times. I made a list of things that resonated with me, things that could later become part of the visual assets for the collage. It took some days of thinking, reading and writing ideas.

Once I started it was all joy. All the ideas started coming together in a very natural way and connected perfectly with the magazine's spirit. Those were really cool days of listening to Quasi Dub Development and letting myself loose in the music and the visuals.

DL: What are some artworks that have changed your life?

MT: I'll mention just three.

The first is the collage work of Raoul Hausmann, or Kurt Schwitters, or Hannah Höch. When I was young, learning about Dada and seeing their raw and brutal approach to art made me realize that I can create my own rules and that I can express my ideas in the way that resonates best to me and works best in my own context.

Then I'd say the work by John Baldessari. It made me think about how art can be extremely deep and meaningful, but also fun and light, at the same time. Not everything should be solemn.

And last I'd say the work of people like David Carson, Eduardo Recife or Thomas Schostok (ths), who in the late 90s showed me a link between graphic design and art that helped me to find my own path to pursue my creative career.

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