Chor Boogie
Expression through Art
Chor Boogie Interview continued:
MIU: So, I know you’ve painted many murals. How long does a mural piece usually take from beginning to end? Well, I guess it would depend on where it is and what you are painting, but how long does one usually take you? You mentioned that the one for the Downtown LA Youth Center took you five days.
CB: Yeah, it took me about five days…about 10-15 hour days….working on a mural. It’s pretty good for what I did.
MIU: Is that typical?
CB: That is not typical. That depends on the size of the wall, the size of what I’m painting, what I’m painting, where I’m painting and yeah, it can take up to two weeks to a month doing a piece. But I try to be in and out. I try to get in and out of there. I do take my time and make sure I’m painting something phenomenal. Yeah, usually the time doesn’t matter.
MIU: I know you’ve traveled around a bit for your artwork, where have you traveled…? I know you went to the Olympics in Beijing [China]. What are some of your favorite places that you’ve traveled to paint?
CB: Australia was nice…was amazing…in Sidney and Melbourne. Brazil was amazing. Dubai was amazing. Canada was amazing. And this year I am focusing on Japan and Europe and where else? …I think that’s it for right now.
MIU: I noticed in your paintings you use such vibrant colors, can you tell me a little bit about your theory of color therapy?
CB: My color therapy perspective is that…I believe that colors have healing attributes…healing motives that, you know, that we’re surrounded by. So, basically we’re surrounded by colors and we’re surrounded by healing, right? That’s if we believe in it [and] if we acknowledge it. We’re surrounded by it on a daily basis, so we’re used to it. It’s like nothing to us. It’s like breathing. It’s like drinking water, which all has healing aspects as well. If you take it to that perspective. If you take it that distance. You know how in yoga you have your breathing practices, which is therapeutical breathing. How come colors aren’t acknowledged like that? So, there must be some form of therapy in all things. If there’s something therapeutical about breathing then there should be something therapeutical about all things. I believe color is one of those things, because we are in living color. We live in color on a daily basis. So, depending on our perception and our perspective on how we want to take that color or where we want to take that color from within…I believe it has that healing attribute. It can heal you internally, externally or it does it whether you like it or not…subconsciously or consciously. It’s gonna do it whether you like it or not because we are surrounded by it. We live with color. Color is just a part of our lives. That’s just a little perspective on how I acknowledge color…and why I put them in my pieces. We need to embrace it. I need to. I’m not going to tell anyone else what to do. They can embrace breathing. They can embrace jogging and all sorts of things. I’m going to embrace colors, because you know, I believe that is…a main dimension of art. That is the main perspective and perception of art…you wouldn’t have art without colors. You know? You wouldn’t have this world without colors [laugh]. Because we live with colors. It’s right in front of us. [It’s] right on the tip of our nose and we still don’t acknowledge it. Humans do that. We do that.
MIU: We kind of take it for granted.
CB: Yeah, we kind of take a lot of stuff for granted and we don’t acknowledge anything. The answers right in front of us and we try to find another answer. Or a different answer. But you know, sometimes the simple things do matter.
MIU: Your murals are so unique. How did you learn to paint? Were you self-taught or did you take any classes? Who were the artists that you’ve studied that have inspired [as well as] influenced you most in regards to your painting style and what you do?
CB: There’s a million artists out there that I am inspired by. You know, you could say…Chuck Close, Michelangelo, Salvador Dali. Those are like my main hindsights right there. Yeah, inspired by Masters of Modern Art, Masters of Contemporary Art, Masters of Modern Spray Paint Art, Phase 2 and Vulcan. And those were a lot of inspirations to me. But as far as being taught I’ve been self-taught since the age of 5. And grew up being an artist….I knew what I wanted to be since I was 5 years old. And I took it upon myself to study books and read books and look at pictures. And basically learn from photographic images. I’d say paint photographic images. That’s how I learned the human structure, the human face, the mathematical proportions of human faces and structure and body perspectives, dimensions….through images. Because I didn’t go to art school. I couldn’t afford art school. You know. I didn’t think I ever really wanted to go to art school. It’s just another school [laugh]. I had art classes in school, but like I got kicked out of them….because they didn’t like the whole graffiti thing. Or the spray paint thing, let me say….they were straight telling me “that’s not artwork.” And I’m like “who are you to say it’s not artwork?” You know, just because I don’t’ want to paint like you…I want to paint what I want to paint and with what I want to paint with. They were like “Graffiti! Graffiti!” That’s why I don’t run with the term graffiti, because of the negative connotations. So, why not create something new with a new meaning? And so, you know…I got kicked out of art classes. I only had one art teacher in my life from a continuation school that I went to….she loved my work. She said “I know you’re going to be great! I know. I can see it. You can do anything that you want!” She let me do anything that I wanted. She said just as long as I say “turn in an assignment,” [you] turn in something. I said “okay.” Ms. Urkheart was her name. And she was the greatest art teacher that I’ve ever had, because that’s the greatest way you can teach art…and that’s the best way you can teach art. If your heart is art. [People] take those art classes just to get a grade, cuz they know they can do it. Or they know it’s an easy class to take supposedly until they really get into the class and they have to break down all these compositions and break down colors and gradients. [Laugh] But the teacher, she recognized the skill. She recognized the talent. And she knew where I was going and so she just said “do whatever you want!” And then, dropped out of school and went through my trials and tribulations. And basically took it upon myself to learn by myself, by reading books about the masters and stuff. And you know, we’ve all got good stories and cool stories that made you artists, but there came a point in my life when I needed to find myself and find my artistic self. Because I’ve been copying these images and whether it be copying a model that’s sitting in front of me or a photograph, I’m still copying something, you know. That’s cool, fine and dandy. I’m learning. I’m learning. I’m learning. But I need to find my original self. I need to find my portraiture, my realism, my abstract expressionism and combine it. Try to combine that and formulate something.
MIU: Was that a difficult move to make?
CB: No, [but] I think I’m still finding it even though the artwork that I’m doing right now is totally beyond what I was just talking about. It’s beyond that. It’s an abstract expressionism of romantic voodoo with emotional landscapes of a melodic symphony through color therapy. I’m going to be building upon that. And the style is going to definitely evolve. You know, it’s definitely gonna evolve. As I get older the style gets better…It will evolve, it will transcend…it will grow into new things. So, as far as all that goes, I was never taught. I’ve always been a self-taught artist. And in the art world…they don’t care about [that].
MIU: Being a professional artist what are some of the business aspects that you have to deal with?
CB: Business aspects of art…the main one is marketing. Network, marketing, getting yourself out there in front of people’s faces as much as you can. I’m not like…a graffiti guy. I don’t just go out there and put my name all up over people’s stuff. I do it in a different way. I do it like [through] the internet. I do it by building my name up. I do it by doing murals…I do it by just constantly…religiously putting my work out there [in] some way shape or form. Whether it be magazines, internet, having this interview with you right now, going to some of these shows, word of mouth, all that stuff combined. And yeah, meeting people and getting into circles. I believe that that’s the best way. You just gotta get your stuff out there. That’s one part of the business aspect. The other part is understanding your business. Understanding the level of your work and understanding money. Once you understand money and what money does and how you can control the money and not let the money control you…then I believe you can be successful in anything. And you have respect for money down to the penny. Once you understand that you have to establish value to your work and bring it up then it just keeps going up from there. And my price points…I have some low price points and I have some high price points too. And that’s because I’m establishing a value to my work. And it’s slowly but surely growing up to those high price points….and so I have two different weapons in my arsenal. I have my canvas paintings…I do my gallery shows…and then I’ve got my mural side too. So, that’s another way to formulate and learn about the money side of the value of your work when it comes to doing walls….doing murals [or] frescos as I would like to call it. But um…the other perspective is I’ve got my little “Boogie Bird”, you know. And that’s just a small little canvas that I’ve got that helps me generate revenue. You know, because people love that little thing. I can do large scale down to the eensy weensy little scale…and people can afford it.
MIU: What was the smallest “Boogie Bird” that you painted?
CB: 2 inch by 2 inch…it should be the smallest painting with spray paint in the world…
MIU: You can go from painting these huge wall murals to painting a 2 inch by 2 inch.
CB: From painting buildings to painting 2 inch by 2 inch. From the smallest scale to the largest scale…all with a spray can.
MIU: Very cool! Amazing. What are some of the types of things that you like to do outside of art?
CB: Watch movies. I watch movies pretty much every night. Good movies….watching movies with my wife and…hangin’ out with some good artists friends of mine, you know, just being guys and hangin’ around and talkin’ shit. That and eat food [laugh]. I do my own networking. I’ve been doing my own networking for a couple years now. But that’s reaching out to people like you and reaching out to people that want to do interviews and stuff. Divine universal is throwing it out there and you know, we need to get this guy an interview and boom, boom, boom…it’s comin’ my way! So you know, which is good. I should be comin’ out in about 30 magazines…soon. One is Fine Art Magazine, which is a major accomplishment because it is [within] the fine art world and will be distributed in museums to galleries and in bookstores…And so you got Big Up Magazine. Big Up Magazine just did an interview and…Artist Spectrum, another fine art magazine I think out here in Chelsea, New York where their whole gallery row is at. It’s gonna be pretty good and now you got Mix It Up Magazine!
MIU: What advice can you give to aspiring artists?
CB: Just believe in yourself. Trust your work. Trust what you do. Trust you and the rest shall follow, because you know…you didn’t start this off by making money or fame and fortune…I wouldn’t let that be your main goal of trying to become a notarized artist…I would just keep painting…respect your medium, respect your talent, respect your art form. And all that other stuff will follow, you know. Me, I’m only at a certain level. I’m not at a level that I believe I should be in. I believe [I should] be [in] a higher bracket when it comes to this art form, but it takes time…patience. And I believe it’s going to happen soon. I’m going to keep throwing that out there. Even if it doesn’t get there…it ain’t gonna stop me from painting. I’ll always keep painting and you know, my legacy of artwork will be continued on. It’ll go to my kids when I have some and they can do what they want with it.
MIU: What’s in the future for Chor Boogie? Do you have any shows coming up or anything?
CB: The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades! [Laugh]
MIU: [Laugh] That’s great! So, more travels?
CB: Yeah, it’s all in the works. That should happen. I guess it just comes with the game. I believe more collaborative projects with Albus Cavus definitely. Albus Cavus is the nonprofit that I work in D.C. And I think you can check them out at albuscav.us. So, me and Peter Krsko, we’re good friends and he’s the one who started Albus Cavus…And yeah, he sets up those really large-scale mural projects…and there are large budgets for ‘em. And that’s that. And I’m thinking about taking Albus Cavus more worldwide…so there will be one on the east coast and I’m thinking about starting it out here on the west coast. Or he might even come out here and move to the west coast and help start it and stuff. So, you’ve got that. And as far as like shows and stuff, I think there’s a show comin’ up this Friday called “Against the Grayne” that I put some “Boogie Birds” in. This Friday at Space Gallery or something like that. I put a bunch of little “Boogie Birds” in there…it’s cool….that’s in San Francisco. We should be having an artist talk the 30th [of March] for Four Squared at Project One….Right now I’m focusing on doing more canvas work and getting more of my body of work built up...a new body of work.
MIU: Good luck with all of that. It’s sounds like you have a very bright future ahead! Wear the shades!!! Awesome. Thank you!
For more on Chor Boogie visit: www.chorboogie.com
/ By Cindy Maram, Executive Editor and Multimedia Designer of Dig In Magazine: www.diginmag.com (Dig In Magazine is an online magazine with a focus on the entertainment industry, trends and popular culture.)
