David Choe has always been one of my all time favourites. He’s a constant source of inspiration. His work may not be cookie-cutter ‘pretty’, but it’s the frantic energy within his works that capture my attention. His works are furious, wild, rough and let’s not forget messy. And that’s the beauty of it all.

I love his work more because of the life he’s living. He’s like a cowboy in the wild west, slinging paint whenever and whereever he can.

What people don’t understand about Choe is that if you work for 4 hours, he will work 7. If you work 15 hours, he will work 24 hours straight. If you spend 3 hours with your girlfriend, he will ditch his and spend 10 hours painting, producing, planing, preparing and executing.

He’ll be in China for a solo show isolated in a studio for days. Not bathing, just painting. Then he’ll hike to the mall in the city perving on the Chinese girls walking around in mini skirts. Not daring to talk to them because he doesn’t know a word of Chinese. Out of frustration, he’d sprint back to his studio. And masturbate all night.

Did I mention he’d been in a Japanese prison? He served only 3 months of a 7 year sentence. During his stay he was so desperate to paint he would utilise anything to paint with, like soy sauce.

When Obama was elected President, Choe’s original portrait of Obama was hung in The White House.

Amongst the crazy life, there’s another reason why I love this guy and it’s summed up pretty well here by Eric Nakamura:

Another entirely overlooked point about David is the fact that he’s pro Asian and pro Asian-American without upholding a flag. Without knowing, this might be his greatest feat, even bypassing his entire career of art shows and mythos. He’s helped enable and empower a strong cross-section of Asians and Asian-Americans. If you watch his documentary, Dirty Hands, it’s a strong subtext that’s never discussed. Although I get some props for pushing a different view of Asian and Asian-Americans via Giant Robot magazine, David has done the same through his art, comics, and storytelling, which is something he doesn’t get credit for and would probably scoff at it if he did.

Cheers Matt for the heads up.

(Note to self: Need a less-busier background for photo-taking)