Monk.E: the story of a painting alchemist who also raps
A teenager in Drummondville picks up a spray can. Three decades later he has painted some 1,300 walls on several continents, released a shelf of rap albums, and earned a word he invented for himself: 'alchimiographiste'. This is the story of Monk.E (David Desharnais-Yergeau) — one of the artists represented by L'Original.
From a small-town wall to São Paulo and Dakar
Born in 1982, Monk.E was a professional by around 17, and never stopped moving. He turned graffiti into something closer to spell-casting — surrealism, calligraphy and figures that braid humans and nature together, often carrying a message. The walls took him around the world, from a mural representing Québec in São Paulo to a tribute in Dakar.
Two voices, one artist
Monk.E never chose between the wall and the mic. A rapper and producer who co-founded the collective K6A, he raps mainly in French, and his 2024 album 'Infrarouge & Ultraviolet' (home to the track 'Les Gatekeepers') reads like the soundtrack to his paintings. Visual art and hip-hop aren't two careers for him — they're one continuous voice.
A living icon, on your wall
A MURAL Festival regular with works catalogued by Art Public Montréal, Monk.E is one of Québec urban culture's most recognizable figures. Through L'Original you can bring that energy home — an original by an artist whose story is still being written across the city's walls.
