All Posts tagged david choe

Exciting David Choe and Giant Robot News

Giant Robot, known for their excellent periodical, pop culture shops and art shows dedicated to “Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture [since] 1994″ will be debuting two awesome toys at SDCC 2010 booth #1729. Gotta love a good mascot toy, and Giant Robot finally gets theirs with a mini-figure series of Big Boss. The Big Boss specs are as follows:

Sculpture-quality casted in tactile material with fully rotating arms, legs, and head

11 vibrant shades and 1 camouflage pattern, blind-boxed packaged with one full set in each case of 12

Fully detachable and interchangeable limbs, encouraging customization and sharing with friends

Customers who purchase complete sets will receive a special, limited-edition printed gift bag

Next up is David Choe’s Munko. Fans of Choe will find the character a familiar one, and if you’re over the age of 18, I encourage you to click this most seriously NSFW link to see further photos of the toys. Points from the press release are as follows:

Based on the whale paintings of David Choe, whose work was first published in Giant Robot and has gone on to become an international fixture in the worlds of street art, indie comics, and high-end galleries

Loving, artist-supervised translation from two-dimensional painting art to three-dimensional pieces

Several unique molds with distinct appendages and unique accessories

Radically different paint jobs, textures, and hues

Blind-box packaged with one full set in each case of 12

Both Munko and Big Boss are manufactured in Japan by Good Smile Company, and GR is taking the cool tack of selling complete sets by the case. I also must admit, I’m intrigued by the bullet point “several unique molds with distinct appendages and unique accessories.” After SDCC, you’ll be able to find the toys at Giant Robot stores in SF, LA and NY as well as at GR resellers.

There’s more good news for Choe fans, too. His book is about to come out, and he’s coming home to San Francisco for a pair of signings.

After SDCC, David Choe will be at SFMOMA on Thursday July 29th from 6-8PM to sign books. Maybe you can even sneak a Munko or a CHOEGAL into the venerable museum. Either way, be sure to hit up GRSF on Friday, July 30th from 6-8PM for even more autographs and antics.  See YOU there.

Die Antwoord: Music, Art, Enigma, WTF?

Maybe we’re late to the table. Or the party. Or the party table (Damnit! No more Batman cake!). But we’re dying to know about Die Antwoord, a self-proclaimed Zef-Rap-Rave crew spitting a violent mixture of English and Africaans out of South Africa.

Their music? If the phrase, “Rap-Rave-Zef” doesn’t paint a picture for you – take underground hip-hop, force it through more filth than usual, and lay down a glitchy electronica beat. It denies the string quartet sample. It thwarts the expected patterning of “traditional” hip-hop. Is it any good? Man. You gotta tell me.

Ninja, the group’s heavily tattooed lead MC, explains to an interviewer what Die Antwoord (an Africaans expression) means:

Ninja: The Answer.

Reporter:  The answer to what?

Ninja: Whatever, man.

We like them because they support good art (read: because Yo-Landi rocks our world). They’ve associated themselves with the paintings of David Choe. The art on their website is adapted by Ninja from the work of New York photography giant Roger Ballen. The destitute aesthetic of Ballen has clearly played a large part in the portrayal of the group overall.

In the Die Antwoord universe, DJ Hi-Tek makes the next-level beats, because he owns a PC computer. Ninja has the gangster-skills on the microphone and Yo-Landi Vi$$er – the third member – sings, raps, pulls down her pants and rocks the single most attractive mullet that we have ever seen.

Antwoord’s popularity is contentious. Some love it. Some hate it. At times, the Die Antics wear a little thin. The construction of their style starts to show, the seams become apparent. Surprise, surprise…they’re not really suffering artists. It’s a fake. But I’ll borrow an expression. What fake?

Catch them this summer at a number of state-side events. If you get a minute alone with Ninja, ask him for us.

“Wat kyk jy, Ninja?”

Despite it all, if you doubt Ninja is a talented MC, check out this pretty amazing freestyle – shot on location in some dank basement with a bunch of dudes watching.

David Choe’s Character Assassination

If you’re in or around San Francisco, you really should go check out David Choe’s Character Assassination at FIFTY24SF in the Lower Haight now through March 24th. When David paints, it looks like he’s channeling something. When David writes, it’s completely unfiltered. I was really in awe of the show as a complete body of work–and surprised by its diversity. Once you take it all in, get yourself a price list. You don’t need your wallet, because everything’s sold out already. But read the titles for some insight into David’s mind. Some people might find it hard to focus on the art amongst the orifices. But I like what Upper Playground wrote about the show, in particular how living indulgently can give way to complete creative freedom:

His often lewd expressions of the female form, considered offensive to some, is, in all actuality, the most raw and honest appreciation of the male/female sexual interaction. Erratic brushwork and wild compositions convey a superficial sense of anarchy and abandon while the delicate and exotic portraits betray the implied chaos, revealing a passionate love of women.

David’s disinterest in social conformity and lack of need for social approval allows him to exist in a realm of indulgence, allowing his creativity to abound unfettered. Whether he be painting murals, paintings, or quick street commentary, that raw honesty is the element that drives his work deep into the psyche of the viewer.  Truths that we as an audience are not always brave enough to admit, even to ourselves, fuels the mastery behind the work.  A subliminal stirring of still waters, his paintings are thought provoking and engaging in a way that cannot always be justified as simply, aesthetically pleasing.

David probably would refer to the author of those kind words (with a mix of endearment and annoyance) as an “art fag.” He’s written his own commentary, entitled Yay! Area,  on his blog. Here’s a (rare) clean sample:

Some may have noticed my gratuitous or even obscene amount of red paint used in my latest body of work, I was fucking angry and I wanted to paint the town red, what can I say , thank god I have painting as an outlet.

This is an interesting topic for another time, but a really good one. Thankfully, we do have canvases and paper and film screens to channel our angst. Didn’t David Lynch just tweet a similar message earlier this week?

I like David Choe. I like that he had a column in Giant Robot. I like that it pissed people off. I like that several issues back when his CHOEGAL toy was about to come out, he called into question the lack of history in other popular vinyl toys.  I like that he does his own thing. I like that in between outbursts of other emotions, he remembers where he came from. And I really liked his show. So go check it out. Rumor alert: For everyone who was priced out of a David Choe painting or print, something cheaper and softer may be on the way.

P.S. you can’t have an assassination without ass, and David brings it, so, you know, anything goes in San Francisco, but tourists might want to leave their kids with some organic ice cream next door…

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Top 10 Art Toys of 2009 Under $50

Supercool geek chic(k) Danie Ware asked me to send her my favorite toy of 2009 to be posted on the Forces of Geek site. I gave myself a parameter: Top Ten 2009 Production Art Toys Under $50. Let’s be real: 2009 was a rough year economically. There were big toys by big names, but for most folks, they remained hundreds of dollars out of reach. Resin really hit its prime, and customizers took their art to a new level, but that’s another list. So without further ado, here’s my Recession Necessities list. I own all ten of these, and I give you my word (which is 97% opinion), that should you also own them, they will bring you great joy. The list has now been updated to include links to buy everything without leaving the Bay Area or your chair! Reposted with permission of the Geeks.

1. Lunartik in a Cup of Tea by Matt JOnes – This toy is the antidote to 2009’s surplus of snore-inducing “urban” vinyl retreads. Prepare to shout “that’s what she said” because everyone agrees that the Lunartik figure is bigger than it looks on the Internet. I love the saucer and spoon accessories and the cheeky colorway names. The customs I’ve seen on this unintentional platform are some of the best I saw this year. Fingers crossed that the Tea Tour hits San Francisco in 2010. [Available in milky DIY flavor here.]

2. O-No Sushi by Andrew Bell – Something I ask of my art toys is whether they elicit an emotional response. O-No Sushi gives me guilt. Am I going to stop eating sushi or buying toys? Heck no. Can’t wait for the green colorway. Bonus points for smart packaging and dedicated microsite. [Now available in green here and red here.]

3. CHOEGAL by David Choe – 2009 was a year where many toys masqueraded as art but fell short of the definition. Love him or hate him, David Choe is an artist, and CHOEGAL is an art toy. If the prices on his prints and paintings are too steep for your wallet, consider this a three-dimensional entry point to owning a piece of Choe. The figures are hand-painted with great boxes, and Choe is rumored to have painted a few himself and slipped them into the mix. Ningyoushi did good on these. [Cupcake edition available here.]

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