choe at blvd

did you see my post on internet tuning? well, my google alert yielded more choe fruit.

first, it pointed me to a feature on choe in seattle's the stranger.

second, it pointed me back to blvd. clicking through, i found that the gallery now has the work online.

the show includes big panel pieces (4'x4') of choe's twin 1 and twin 2.

the blue-haired twins may be familiar. choe painted them on one of the doors next to 5024 on fillmore in sf's lower haight.


in a nice moment, we ran into david choe when he was cleaning up from painting the above. i like my street art local and fresh. someday i will document such happy coincidences with photos.

wanna see the full door?

they were also still up at gr2 in la when we went there a few weekends back. not sure how that happens, but i like it.


the show also includes a portrait from choe's 3 months in a tokyo prison. tiny vices features some of the other work, which provides some context (e.g., he used soy sauce, ink, urine). choe produced a zine with some(?) of the work, which i missed.

collector's notes

none of the work was listed as sold when i checked earlier today. that may change now that it is posted on juxtapoz.

i think the above work is a reasonable value for david choe. he is a talented and somewhat unpredictable painter. he takes "risks" - some of which do not work for me. but he always has work that i find to be compelling. i am not alone - wooster collective often promotes david choe. and i have heard some artists i respect also compliment his work. two primary risks for his artistic career are (1) he gets into more trouble than a 3 month stay in a tokyo prison; and/or (2) he spends his creative energy working for advertising. those are both risks with a number of emerging artists (the second, perhaps, more than the first).

each twin above is $3500 (48"x48", acrylic, spray enamel).

the tokyo prison portrait is soy sauce, ball point pen on paper, 9"x11" ($1000).

the show has some $300 and $400 pieces. my pick would be his smaller whale which looks like it is from 2003. 8.5"x11", pencil/watercolor on paper, $300. i like his whale icons (an image which he repeats) and this piece, while sad, is fully realized and compelling to me.