David
Choe is by far one of our all time favorite artists. The guy’s talent is
incredible. So when we stopped receiving his email updates months back we were
seriously bummed.  We then heard that he had been arrested in Tokyo while in
town for a show and was sitting in a Japanese jail cell waiting to be released.


If you haven’t yet picked up the 10th Anniversary Edition of href="http://www.giantrobot.com">Giant Robot, you should definately check it
out. Not only is it a great issue, but it includes David’s first person account
of the whole experience. 

On Saturday we were received a new update
from David, the first since his arrest:

“hi everyone

i
split my big toe open this week,  it’s a big bloody mess. it couldn’t have
happened at a worse time.

I been away for awhile. i started 2004 in a
Tokyo prison cell, and it looked like it was gonna be a bad year, but things
worked out.

I been drawing very little, and have mostly been
practicing and making numb-chucks with my nephews, and have been getting my old
band back together KGB (koreans gone bad, watch us play in San Francisco in
september SOLEDIVISION.COM) i feel
like beating the fuck out of my drums more than weilding a brush these days.
/>
I have one last thing i gotta do before I take a break. I agreed to do
this solo show in Los Angeles, at the Kantor Gallery right before i went to
prison, so i will honor that agreement. it’s funny because it’s located at
melrose and LaBrea, about 5 blocks from where i had my first art show at an ice
cream shop, after all the galleries on La Brea told me to fuck off almost ten
years ago. all of the paintings for the show are new. i did them right before i
got arrested, and i was really fucked up, but no ones seen them yet, some
mannequins were donnated by my mannequin manufacturer, i have about a dozen
wooden sculptures that i made in between numb chuck practice with left over
numbchuck wood, and i have only ONE new painting that i did after i got out of
prison called, “SILENT DANCE”. which i like alot. as always
there will be
many affordable books and prints that I’ve been working on. I’m sorry that the
original paintings have gotten so expensive over the years, but thats the nature
of supply and demand. It should be a fun night, i know there’s alot of you i
haven’t seen in awhile so come out and kick it.

DAVID CHOE

/>new sculptures and paintings

KANTOR GALLERY
FRIDAY JULY 9th 6-
10p.m.
7025 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles CA 90038
tel: 323-933-6976 fax:
323-933-8976 | e-mail: kantorart@earthlink.net
(it’s by the jiffylube
across from pinks hotdogs)

I’ve sold many paintings in the last few
months since i’ve returned from Japan, and have taken on a few highpaying
sellout jobs this will give me some scrilla to take a step back. so i think
after this show in L.A. i won’t be doing any more of these for awhile. being in
jail is sort of like vaction getaway, but i think i need to get away from
everything for awhile and finish some things up, and tie up some loose ends in
my mind. i can’t even begin to thank everyone who’s supported me and helped me
through some dark days and all of my stupid bullshit, especially MyLan , and as
always people who want to hate and keep talking shit,only make me stronger,I got
nothing but love for all you fuckers. We don’t all have to have someone die, get
diagnosed with disease, get thrown in jail, or have some tragedy hit us to take
a step back and see what it’s all for. if you got the time and money, and even
if you don’t. i think you should take a vacation. don’t be mad if I don’t return
your calls and e-mails right away.  I think my toe and everything else is gonna
work out ok. I’ll see you all next week.

-DC

PS-does
anyone know if those liquid bandages really work?
PSS-i’m in L.A. all week
if anyone wants to paint.
PSSS- if you live in the bay area and you like to
watch t.v. check out

KQED -PBS(i’m pretty sure it’s channel 9)
/>on Thursday, Jul 22, 2004
KQED Encore
Up from the Street—2:00pm,
11:30pm

Experience artists whose work emanates from the street with
Spark. Once a professional skateboarder, Tommy Guerrero channels the skate
culture through his music and visual artwork. Next see graffiti artist David
Choe, who has moved from the streets of Los Angeles and San Jose to the brink of
stardom. He’s self-published graphic novels, produced illustrations for
magazines and mounted dozens of gallery shows of his paintings. Also check out
reflections of “Life on Market Street: An Audio Archive,” with the four-wheeled
interactive artwork by the artist team of Wowhaus ( href="http://www.thewowhaus.com">thewowhaus.com).

for more info
go to

href="http://www.kqed.org/spark/episodes/index.jsp">http://www.kqed.org/spark/ep
isodes/index.jsp

rebrodcasts

Friday, Jul 23, 2004
/>KQED Channel 9
Up from the Street—11:30pm

Saturday, Jul
24, 2004
KQED Encore
Up from the Street—2:30am, 6:30am, 10:30am,
2:30pm, 6:30pm, 10:30pm
KQED Life
Up from the Street—2:00pm
/>
Sunday, Jul 25, 2004
KQED Channel 9
Up from the Street—
11:00pm
KQED Life
Up from the Street—11:30am

Monday,
Jul 26, 2004
KQED Encore
Up from the Street—2:00am, 6:00am,
10:00am, 2:00pm, 6:00pm