Montreal model and artist known as Zombie Boy dead at 32

Genest was born in the Montreal borough of LaSalle, grew up in the off-island suburb of Châteauguay and spent part of his life living on the streets.

He got his first tattoo at 16 and left home the following year.

About 90 per ce Genest nt of his body was eventually tattooed, and most of it is by Montreal tattoo artist Frank Lewis, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The extent of Genest's tattoos led him to work in sideshows and then garner an online following.

"He was someone who was a prisoner of that image," said Pénélope McQuade, host of Radio-Canada's Les échangistes, who interviewed Genest in 2016.

The British artist Marc Quinn is slated to create a 3.5-metre bronze sculpture of Genest for London's Science Museum next year.

"I find him rather amazing. He is an artist. His artwork is himself," Quinn told the Guardian newspaper in March.

The last post on Genest's official Facebook page, which has almost one million followers, is a poem called The Well.