SmartShanghai | Interview: Ques Da Illlord

Interview: Ques Da Illlord

By Nicolas Peden, Sep 11th, 2009 | In Art

Charles Munka aka Ques is a Hong Kong-based French artist. He's been making a name for himself recently in the graf/design world for portraits of underground hip-hop artists, as well as doing design for Brainfeeder, Flying Lotus's record label. A former Shanghai resident, Ques returns to the city this Friday to do some live painting alongside Samiyam. Event info at the bottom.

Here's Ques on the Myspace. And here's some of his other stuff on the net.

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Maybe you could start with your background? Where are you from?

Ques: Lyon, France. Studied art in Lyon for two years. School's forcing style didn't work with what I was trying to do. After a while I got into Asian movies, like Chinese kung ku shit, kitano, and reading manga, and all this kind of stuff. So it made me want to check out Japan. Never took a plane before. I had a one-year visa, which is awesome because the Japanese tend to be really hard with visas. Which is why after a year I came to China.

China was a backup? Would you rather be back in Japan?

Ques: No, I wouldn't say that. It just turned out that way.

You lived in Shanghai several years ago and moved away again. I know you didn't like it at first, but how did you feel about it towards the end?

Ques: Yeah, of course I came to like it. The problem when I first got here was how underdeveloped most of the scenes were. I remember the times before Moganshan had any graffiti, and before this area [Taikang Lu] even existed. But yeah, before I left, things started to pop off.

And what about Shanghai's arts scene now?

Ques: Well, there's tons more going on. When I left Shanghai for Hong Kong, I expected to see way more stuff going down in HK, but I realized it was totally the opposite. A lot of people think nothing is going on here, but it's evolving; it's not bad.

How about Shanghai's graffiti scene?

Ques: Umm... [Laughs.]

Is there a scene?

Ques: Yeah, I don't think there really is a scene. There's a handful of people that are interested, but apart from a couple contained areas, like Moganshan, there isn't really very much. But it seems like it should blow up further down the line, you know. Like I said, back in the day, you couldn't post up at Moganshan and spray paint walls. Now it's a casual activity, and there's more exposure. It's weird, you know -- I think people like it when a bunch of foreigners post up and bomb. Every time you go and paint a crowd of people surrounds you, takes photos, asks questions. Most of the people don't really understand what you're doing, but they like it.

And then there's the interest in underground culture. That's what I like about Shanghai. So there's no reason why it shouldn't blow up.

Now it seems like there are more opportunities for younger artists...

Ques: Yeah, I think it was just the wrong time. It was too early, you know. Shanghai just wasn't ready for me. [Laughs.] But you know, I think it's just really hard when you're a foreigner trying to make it in another country. That's especially the case when you're in China. You're in a position when you're not a local that people are just not really going to take an interest in your work. But things are changing. They're always changing, you know.

Would you move back here?

Ques: Hmm... I don't know. I don't know, man. If the right opportunity presented itself, and if it feels like that's what I'm supposed to do...

Could you talk about your own style. It seems like it can��t quite be categorized as graffiti or street art. How did it develop?

Ques: I've always been into art. Studied it for years. But my style has evolved since living in Asia. I started working in Tokyo as a video game designer. That was crazy. It was just some local Japanese company making fucked up games that I really couldn't understand, so I couldn't tell you the first thing about it. [Laughs]. But yeah, when I left for Japan I was really into all these comic and animated things. I wanted to go out there and get into manga, you know, like draw manga and shit. I tried some contests and things like that. Interviewed with a bunch of companies. But it didn't really work out, and in the end I met a bunch of people that got me into graphic design for events. That's where I learned graphic design. And from then on, I started to get really into graphic design and really abstract stuff -- characters and comic styles and graffiti and street culture all meshed together.

A lot of my work is influenced by the music I listen to. Samiyam's stuff, for instance, really represents what I'm looking for when in need of inspiration. The experimental element has always been important, and his music offers that.

And as you know man, there are too many rules and boundaries in graffiti. But you can see, I take a lot of visual elements from graffiti.

And what's life for you now then?

Ques: Painting on my rooftop in Hong Kong. Designing. Chilling. I got a lot of projects these days. One of which is Seven Dice, a sneaker company I started with some friends. We just launched it in France. The Brainfeeder label keeps me pretty busy too.

I spend a lot of time on the internet -- shit like youtube and all that, which is another reason I'd be hard for me to move back to Shanghai. I need freedom of internet man. Can't always be worrying about which website is blocked and shit.

And how did you hook up with the guys at Brainfeeder?

Ques: Well once again, internet, man. I've been in contact with a lot of these people through the net. Shit like Myspace. I've been in touch with them before they even started Brainfeeder. I was doing illustrations and graphics for them -- for their mixes and CDs. Then eventually Flying Lotus was talking about starting a label, and wanted me to do all the art and graphics.

And working with them is great, man. Really casual. Deadlines aren't really part of our relationship. I like their music, they like my work. You know, it's like I'll produce some really personal work on my free time, and the Brainfeeder guys will check it out and really like it and want to turn it into a cover, poster, flyer, something like that. It makes me happy to know that my work fits in well with what they're doing.

So what��s happening this Friday?

Ques: Samiyam is throwing down the beats and I'll be up there with my paint and markers.

I saw your live performance at eno. Looks mostly improv. Is that the case?

Ques: Definitely. Everything is improv. You'll find some recurring imagery, but very little is planned. It changes all the time. I have these images that I really like to use for a while. They reflect what I'm feeling, the music I hear. It's like a story -- a visual representation of everything going around outside and inside my head. And in these live performances, the music is really important.

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Pictures with this article are from Ques at eno.

Ques paints at the Samiyam show tonight. Details here.