Quentin Gomzé
Quentin Gomzé is a Paris based illustrator. Inspired by horror, manga, metal, and sometimes cute creatures – his raw hand drawn illustrations bring to life a world of techno-dystopian horror. He has worked with and been featured by brands such as Supreme, Brain Dead, amongst many others.
V:
What film has had the most impact on your practice, and how has it directly influenced your work?
QG:
Wow…this a tough question, I hesitated a lot. I wanted to provide a super underground reference but I’m gonna stay classic and say the first Hellraiser film. This is where everything started with my taste in horror films and general aesthetic. When I first saw it, I never understood anything about the film but I was amazed by the designs, especially the Cenobite characters. When I was kid, I had a neighbor who was a big horror movie fan and he showed me a lot of shit I was not supposed to watch at my age. I remember watching cartoons on the TV and the next day be watching Hellraiser. Nothing in the middle…no transition at all – I don’t know what he had in mind showing me this really complicated film. After that I quickly fell into the horror rabbit hole, started reading horror manga, listening to metal, and here I am. Crazy to think that maybe just one guy influenced my work that way. Because it’s too hard to pick just one film, I would like to finish with an honorable mention of Jason and the Argonauts. It’s not a horror film, but it features hands down, the best skeleton design in my opinion.
V:
Your work revolves around a world of characters created from a mix of diverse influences, such as metal, anime, medieval knights, and graffiti–if there was one character in a film that represented you, who would that be?
QG:
I never thought about it actually…maybe a mix between Littlefoot from The Land Before Time and Ash from The Evil Dead. Littlefoot is super nice and has sick friends while Ash is badass and handsome – I believe these two characters would definitely make a good persona for me.
Dead Leaves
Unlikely renegades, Pandy and Retro, awaken on earth with no recollection of their past. They embark on a wild crime spree throughout downtown Tokyo and become incarcerated in the infamous lunar penitentiary, Dead Leaves.
V:
If you had to choose only one film you could watch for the rest of your life, what would it be?
QG:
The first film that came to mind is the Japanese animated movie, Dead Leaves. It’s fast paced with an awesome graphic style, there is no other anime like it. The film feels like an hour long roller coaster – I am constantly discovering new stuff every time I watch it because the screen is full of graphics, it’s so overwhelming you can’t figure everything out the first time. I love Dead Leaves!