Monez: Blending Tradition and Pop Art
Monez Gusmang is a Balinese illustrator and graphic designer who has been in the game for over 16 years. His colorful work is often recognizable by the little monster characters adorning the canvas. Many will have seen his work for the Indonesian Independence Day Google Doodle this past August. From large-scale murals to collaborations with fashion brands, Monez’s work has reached far and wide as his large audience continues to grow.
Monez initially graduated from Indonesia Institute of the Arts Denpasar (ISI Denpasar), Bali in 2000. Having majored in Visual Communication Design, Monez initially began his career as a graphic designer. He also spent some years at a cartoon studio and as a pattern designer at a garment factory. However, as someone born and raised in Bali where there is proximity to traditional arts, like dance, painting, gamelan, and more, in his day-to-day life, he was driven to infuse this daily experience into a visual form as taught to him throughout university. “Which I made by combining it with my experiences from when I was little” Monez explained. He continued to elaborate that he saw the exciting potential in bringing his fondness of reading comics back in the 80s and 90s as well as the fairy tales told to him by his parents into his work. “Those visual experiences, I thought if combined, would be exciting. Between traditional art and digital art,” said Monez.
Looking back to when he graduated university, Monez never imagined that the illustration industry would grow to become what it is today. With him majoring in visual communication design, Monez expected to work as a graphic designer and create brochures or work in-house at one of the many hotels on the island as hospitality is one of the more prominent industries on Dewata Island. “But along with the development of the times, the demand for illustrations has increased, and going from working alone to eventually having a team is also something that follows the evolution of the industry,” Monez explained. Monez’s creative exploits grew to the point of now needing a team to help support him. His team now consists of over a dozen people including six in-house creatives. He also explained that illustration work is much more variative today—from designing tee-shirts to drawing visual assets for games or applications. “"So the development of the illustration industry in the creative world is what has kept me going until now. Because with each project, we produce new work,” Monez elaborated.
“People say that art is a reflection of the journey of life. The same goes for what I produce now; when connecting the dots back, it is also a relationship between the connections of my life experiences so far,” Monez contemplated. He went on to explain that his work is a direct reflection of his personal experience as a creative born, raised and still based in Bali. His previous experience at a cartoon studio as well as his time as pattern designer also largely influences his work. While his upbringing informs his approach to visual storytelling as well as the ornaments he incorporates into his work, his experience as a pattern designer has played a part in more technical aspects like color palette selection. “I like to combine traditional concepts with pop art culture.”
Monez has racked up an impressive clientele—from Apple, Procreate, Affinity by Serif, Bali Zoo, and more. Most recently, many would have seen his work for Google Doodle on August 17th, in commemoration of Indonesia’s 79th Indepence Day. To him, as someone based not in the capital city, the offer from Google came quite unexpectedly. “It seems like opportunities are far away. But after I got them, it proved that we in the regions can also have the same opportunities as friends in the center,” Monez remarked. He explained that Google International had emailed him directly, already armed with a brief deck adorned with his previous work. They were quite specific with the technical aspects of the brief from the theme to the color palette. “The brief was quite clear, and the process was also fairly quick because the back-and-forth was quite smooth.,” Monez recalled. He explained that with projects at a national scale like this one for Google, as an illustrator, Monez had to understand the do's and don’ts of the visual language to be applied. There were some symbols to be avoided, like creating his monster characters with three eyes or anything associated with any religious taboos. “With Google Doodle, it was also emphasized to avoid using symbols that might be too sensitive to a particular belief system or group” he explained.
Back when he was starting out as a freelancer, as with many freelance creatives, Monez had to tackle both the creative and the business side of his career but he found that as he grew, this became less and less effective. Now his wife Ami has joined his team as a manager and they have cultivated a healthier division of tasks with the rest of the team. “I finally realized that art as a business cannot be approached as if we view art solely as a work driven by ego. Art as a business also needs support, and the people involved are a blend of both art and business,” Monez explained. Including himself and his wife and manager Ami, his team has a total of more than a dozen people with six in-house illustrators.
Monez is showing no signs of stopping. He hopes to continue to grow his studio, Florto Studio, an illustration and graphic design agency in Bali. On a personal note, Monez hopes to see his work foray into the three dimensional. “Currently, most of my artwork is 2D, ending up as files on my iPad or in prints. In the future, I want the same designs to be applied to various objects, such as 3D, installations, and mapping. I want to prove that ideas can be applied to different forms and can be collaborated on by everyone,” Monez said. “The journey is long, but just start small,” he said, closing our interview.
