Interview by Jimon

1.  You are originally from Paris, why did you choose to move to Los Angeles?  To follow my dreams in the city of angels.

2.  Why so anonymous? In a world where everyone wants to be famous?  Anonymity is a luxury when your work becomes famous. It’s a piece of mind.

3.  How did you choose the name PUNK ME TENDER?  I think “love me tender” is genius and I like to go around the rules. My philosophy is RESPECT first then FUCK the rules.

4.  How long have you been making art and how did it all start?  I started to paint shortly after I got my own apartment at seventeen years old.  My mother and grandmother are both painters so I always witnessed art especially with my grandmother since my mother cut all contact with me when I was eleven.  So painting was a form of therapy and it came naturally to express my emotions.

5.  How do you pick the locations for your creations?  My heart tells me if its the right location.

6.  Why the pink strike over the eyes?  The purpose of the pink stripe on the eyes is to focus on the women as a human and not a specific person also because I like the look of it.

7.  What would you be doing if you were not an artist?  I would be miserable.

8.  What has been the toughest location you painted?  An illegal billboard on the side of 101 freeway in Los Angles.  It ended up being a total disaster and I cut myself all over since it was protected by barb wires.  There was blood everywhere.

9.  Do you know if the first piece you painted still up and if so where is it?  It was in Lyon, France and it is not there anymore.

10.  Your paintings seem to be very time consuming. What is the longest you have spent on one piece?  Two weeks.

11.  Have you ever had to stop midway through a painting because police showed up?  Many times.

12.  How would you like to be seen as an artist years from now?  Raw and real: Me.

13.  What or who has had the most influence on your work?  Yves Klein for his genius minimalism, Damien Hirst for his cleverness, Yves Saint Laurent for his sophistication, Jean Paul Gaultier for the creativity and Alexander McQueen for his crazy over the top vision.

14.  Looking at all the work you have done do you have a favorite?  Yes, its Christian Louboutin shoe nailing a piece of paper, reading ART, written by a red lipstick on a white canvas, it means everything to me.

15.  What other types of art interests you?  All, especially fashion and music.

16.  If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Damien Hirst. We would all be on acid.

17.  Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration?  The internet

18.  Lastly is there a website where one can see all your work? www.punkmetender,com