Monsieur Cabinet

Monsieur Cabinet (Dave) lives and works in Leeds, West Yorkshire. He is an Associate Lecturer at Leeds College of Art, loves wordplay & satire. He also likes talking in the third person and will rock your world in a quirky gentle way.

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FT: Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in art, and how you got to where you are today?

MC :Coming from a medical family has meant I’ve never taken life too seriously. When my dad came home from work, he would always joke with us, I guess a release from such a stressful job. To survive in my family you have to have a sense of humour, my mum is Irish and can talk for England and my brother is perhaps the most sarcastic person I know. My interest in art came from a very early age, I was fascinated by animation. I know this is not unnatural for a child to like cartoons but I was fixated by them. At 16, I went to art college, did a Foundation in Art and then went on to do a degree in Illustration & Animation at Kingston University, London. Despite it being quite a traditional course, there was a strong emphasis on ideas. Here I was in my element, we had numerous one day briefs, sometimes just being given a single word to illustrate. It was also here I gained an interest in teaching. After graduating I moved away from London, I wanted a change, I also couldn’t afford it. I spent the next five years developing my work, taking parting part in several exhibitions and supporting myself with odd jobs. I now live in Leeds and teach at the local art college. It is fantastic to be surrounded by design on a daily basis, and is important for me to retain a healthy balance with my practise.

FT: how would you describe your work/style to a first time viewer?

MC :Despite being an illustrator, words are often the main subject of my work. I am fascinated by language, how it can be manipulated to take on alternate meanings. I also like pushing peoples conceptions of dark humour and bad taste. My ‘manjelly series’ isn’t to everyones liking but regardless of their violent risque content, they are just beans. Can you really be offended by me shooting an imaginary dog? That thought alone makes me smile. My work was recently described as “quirky and sometimes shocking sense of humor, paired well with simple and almost childlike illustrations”. I guess that sums it up quite well.

FT: The characters in your work are visually quite childlike and this portrays the message of the language you are using quite well. what are some inspirations behind your illustrations?


MC :Over the past ten years my influences have varied but have always been centered around comedy. I was brought up on Monty Python & old british comedy programs. One of my favourite sketches is ‘The Two Ronnies ~ Fork Candles”, a fantastic play on words. At university I was introduced to the artist David Shrigley. It was exactly what I wanted to do. I even started drawing with my left hand to try and make my images look more “naive”. It was an important learning curve in my practise but I got bored with people saying “that looks like Shrigley” and realised I needed to find my own style. It felt like I was cheating. I now gain inspiration from other sources, I spend hours in charity shops looking for bargain books, and trawl the internet for facts.
I like to draw from my own experiences. I will often sit down and people watch, make up characters for the people I see, listen to conversations on the bus and record them. An idea can just take me by surprise, it will be a mad rush to find the nearest scrap of paper to write it down, but my drawings almost always come from source, I try not to draw from the top of my head.

FT: And why did you choose illustration as your preferred medium?


MC :I actually started out doing Product Design, but after a week of drawing boxes, I knew it wasn’t for me. My understanding of Graphics at the time was, typography & layout. I shamefully admit, I disliked typography. I have never been a big fan of public speaking (teaching a class of students has been the most challenging thing for me to date), so putting pen to paper seemed the most obvious outlet. I guess the thought of drawing characters all day from home seemed quite appealing, it was something I was good at and enjoyed the most. I also liked the idea of being my own boss. Realising it’s importance, I am now obsessed with typography, both handmade and digital, I even have a nice collection of letterpress characters I like to look at now and again. Both disciplines play a really strong role in how I approach my ideas.

FT: you say you record peoples conversations i bet there is some great content on those tapes….


MC :I have a notebook sitting on my desk just waiting to illustrated, but like the many half-read books under my bed, there always seems to be something else I need to finish first. Listening into other peoples conversations not only feeds the slightly voyeuristic side we are all a little guilty of, but on the whole they are less contrived. I had to stop myself laughing out loud when I was on the bus the other day, a girl was describing a conversation she’d had at school, it went like this ~ ” I asked a boy in my class today whether he had OCD, he said yes, I have a Michael Jackson CD”. Brilliant

FT: And finally do you have any words of wisdom for developing illustrators and designers?


MC :It is very easy to be swept up by media hype, and be taken advantage of. When I first graduated I gave me work away for free to several magazines, I just wanted to see my work in print. I was also approached by bands through social networking sites. It seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess I thought the bands stood more of a chance of getting noticed than me. If you want to get your work out there, make books, postcards, flyers, tickets, badges and stick them up and hand them out. There is no reason to have your work associated with a local band you’re not even that bothered about. The chances are you’re more “famous” than they are. On approaching clients, find out who you are addressing emails to, it makes it more personal and looks good that you have done your research, and be specific. If they say no, it doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough, chances are you’re just not right for them at that time. Try again in 6 months, as people shift around and circumstances change. I am firm believer in learning from mistakes, I think every illustrator needs to find their feet for themselves. I sympathise with any illustrator just starting out, it can be extremely difficult at times. Keep on drawing, and most importantly have fun