Oct 08, 2013 Some David Choe Stories (2 of 2)
Of course, David Choe’s upcoming talk at the Center for the Preservation of Democracy reminds me of when I edited Giant Robot mag and he was a contributor. The first time I met him was at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1997. I don’t recall if he was a student or recent dropout of CCAC, but he came to our table in the small press area and said that he wanted to contribute to the magazine. Co-founder Eric Nakamura was roaming around the floor, so I told Dave that there was an article about Martin Yan that required an image. I didn’t really expect one to show up but, lo and behold, Dave’s painting of the buck-toothed celebrity chef arrived soon afterward and it was perfect.
We became friends with Dave because he would come over to the office and hang out. Usually, I was at my day job but he’d tell stories to Eric about going to Africa, riding trains, and so on. So long before his paintings became common in the magazine or began dividing readers, his stories did. Yes, he talked shit and made generalizations but more importantly he did whatever he felt like doing without fear and shared his experiences without shame. That not only paralleled how he would approach his art but provide the inspiration for his future shows on the Vice website.
In time, Choe became Giant Robot’s go-to guy for providing art for articles that didn’t have decent photographs. He was super fast and ridiculously versatile. Despite the fact that it doesn’t have big butts or bodily fluids, my favorite editorial piece of all time by him is the intro image for my series of interviews on Chinese Jamaican producers: Clive Chin, Herman Chin-Loy, Leonard “Santic” Chin, and Jo Jo Hookim. The crew at Pressure Sounds provided incredible vintage photos for the spreads but Dave’s colorful illustration added incredible funk and energy. Amazingly, we didn’t actually run an interview with Dave (or give him the cover) until issue 50. By then, he was being managed by the same guy who handled Banksy and had moved on to gambling as his main interest.
I don’t see Dave very often now that the magazine stopped publication (and he’s become a world-traveling celebrity) but it’s my understanding that gambling has taken a backseat to his podcast as far as his extracurricular, non-visual art activities go. And if you’ve even skimmed the episodes, you know that his conversation is as freewheeling and unedited as his artwork. The talk on October 17 is guaranteed to be a blast, as a result, and I’m led to believe there might even be guest appearances. Visit this link for ticketing information if you’re even remotely interested because you’re going to get shut out if you don’t act fast. I’m going to be there, for sure.