Today we’d like to introduce you to Luqman Coffen, Better known as MONKPANDA!
Hi Luqman, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well, as a kid around six years old, I was drawn to many cartoons and anime. During school, I would hang out at the library, grabbing random drawing books and practicing to redraw the images in the books from scratch. As I approached high school, I started taking art more seriously by entering art competitions and taking AP art classes. After school, I decided to pursue further in arts in college with a bachelor’s in Graphic Design. Later, after graduating with my bachelor’s, I transitioned to working as a Senior Designer for about three years at a Marketing/Brand Development company. After a while, I took a break from the corporate world to spend more time outdoors to perform murals, chalk murals, and help put on art shows with close colleagues and fellow artists. From there, I was on the urge to continue to absorb more knowledge of the art world. So, I visited seminars pertaining to various forms of artistry and volunteered for several exhibitions. Accepting clients in my home over the next couple of years.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My road through the creative world wasn’t as smooth as always. I’ve definitely dealt with a lot of things along the way that I found difficult to overcome. Of course, one of the biggest challenges to overcome was the loss of my father Just before I was about to get my feet wet in the art world. In regards of that, it triggered many opportunities to explore, like creating chalk murals or throwing art shows, but I would say the most thing I was proud of and a bit of challenge or struggle that I had to overcome was a project I got from a wonderful creative woman/art mother (Patricia Hernandez) Who email me an opportunity Paint a shipment container in an old Local historical train yard in Atlanta called Pullman Yards. I was away for my sister’s graduation in Seattle when I got the news that I was selected. By that time, The process had already been starting. So, when I got back into the city, I immediately jumped on the project. I didn’t have time to prepare but I did get some assistance from peers as well as Patricia in preparation.
Also, I never painted on a shipping container Nor have I improvised on such a large object. If you guys are not informed about what the shipping container is just imagine a large metal block That stretches 20 feet in height and 40ft in length with grooves as deep and big as a paint tray that goes all around the container, Which forces the prospective to be a little off because The surface is not the same level. I found it very special to be able to freestyle and learn, as I go without no grid and still pull out a beautiful visual that is still seen in that space. Almost every moment, I took visiting that space when I was creating the mural, I would encounter different objects, whether it was a ladybug or a firefly. I would then translate that onto the container, creating a composited story that consists of the visual environment of the train yard.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Well, I dab in a lot of different forms of art, whether it’s painting, a mural, or developing a logo design or creating a painting for an exhibit. Most people will see me through social media and create my chalk murals, which are generally placed on social media because if you aren’t there in person, then they were generally wash away. There was a showcase praises uniting different ethnicities during the Tragedies and loss during BLM movement and Stop Asian Hate movement that I helped curate for Atlantic Station that I was most proud of During the pandemic. It started out with me collaborating with TinyDoors in a public arts festival, but based off of the circumstances of the high numbers in COVID-19, the concept got scrapped.
So me and my chalk art dad/ curating mentor (Zach Herndon) Improvised Business plan to recreate an outdoor exhibition that consisted of five selected muralists to paint on 7×7 foot wood panel that was created by the Zach’s craftsmanship. I was able to contact for amazing friends of mine, always get inspired from (George F. Baker III) (Xavier Perry) (Angie Jerez) (Cameron Moore). I wasn’t able to finalize the last artist, so I decided to be one of the artists myself. It almost felt like being an actor and director in a film at the same time, lol. I will say one thing that truly sets me apart from others is my ability to take an idea or experience from my childhood or an anime show like ONE PIECE that I liked and create a whole clever world or fandom that is built around that one memory or object that I adore. Create many combinations of colors, and infuse a sense of comfort, primarily using comfort food like ramen for example, to showcase childlike 90s-inspired qualities that I experienced growing up.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What I enjoyed best about our city are the different varieties of communities that are involved in the art world. Almost every community environment has its own characteristic or niche that shows a streamline of opportunities for Artists who Share different qualities to offer in any given space. Everyone has the ability to create art on this earth. Of course, it takes practice and somewhat patience, but the most important is being passion-driven. And having different environments in our city helps create more of those moments to be passionate about something to create.
It’s very hard to distinguish something I like the least about our city, other than the traffic lol. I truly believe the most disliking thing that I would want us to improve on is being able to broadcast what we do creatively in our city more to the whole world. It always feels like sometimes living in America is like living in a big creative bubble. That only gets exposed through social media Most of the time. The most interesting thing is when we have people from other parts of the world visit or live here, and they are amazed by what we offer versus where they come from.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iammonkpanda.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/iammonkpanda?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luqman.coffen
- Other: TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@iammonkpanda?_t=8fRGfqKP7S3&_r=1
Image Credits
The photo with me, drawing on my tablet was shot by an amazing photographer Jason Pundt.
