If Chor Boogie has a legacy, it is certainly written in Krylon. Defined by his singular style and color palette, the legendary West Coast street artist has spent the greater part of two decades creating murals around the world, on a mission to spread his message of love to neighborhoods in need of a little “color therapy.” Having just finished a landmark painting at The Cubes in New York City’s Times Square, Chor talked to us about his inspiration and love of transforming public spaces.
Looking back, why did spray paint become your medium of choice?
You know when you have that feeling that something just feels right? Well, that’s what I had when I first touched that spray can. It was as if magnetics formed like Voltron and started the creative process. I just felt comfortable with an uncomfortable medium, like it was my calling to take that element of spray paint beyond levels that were already achieved. I feel like I have done that – from clouds that were created, faded more like a jump shot lean back. I made it with much more open room to learn. I don’t see color in this creative process of “modern hieroglyphics” (or better yet “modern medu neter”) because, honestly speaking, when I touch that spray can, it feels like I’m coming from another galaxy balanced through gravity. That highest point that no longer applies. I love what I do.
How would you describe your relationship with music? How does music connect to your relationship with art?
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Just like any art form, music is a key element to my path. One of the main ones that inspires the flow within my work, hence the “boogie” in Chor Boogie. And that’s “chore” as in Chor Boogie.
But you asked [about] my relationship with music. I’d have to say it’s like any other relationship. You can love it or hate it, so it’s an acquired, balanced taste. But the thing that brings art and music together is the fact that one is visually painting a picture and one is visually painting a picture with words and music. So, they are the same.
Are there any stories behind the creation of any of your murals? Do you find that celebrities respond to your more celebrity/musician-themed work?
Honestly, I’m going to put myself and celebrities in the same category simply because I work just as hard as they do. I’m just on a different stage.
There are many stories behind the creations, from painting in the favelas in Brazil, to painting the Olympics in China, to being on stage with Wu-Tang in front of 70,000 people presenting my ODB portrait, to stepping out of my style creating political works called “Divided State of America” and showing them during the DNC, to getting stabbed on the streets, etc. The list goes on. It’s all relative.
I think everyone is a celebrity — a bright and shining star — so I treat them all the same. So when they respond, I extend my utmost gratitude.
What artists on the scene are you excited about these days?
Phase2 -Riff170 and Vulcan, simply because they are the real masters of this medium, and if it wasn’t for them, none of this spray paint/street art world would exist in the styles they have brought to the table.
How do you stay inspired?
Natural causes of original concepts. I stay inspired.
Oftentimes, your murals are seen as a gift to communities. But has a life in art provided you with any gifts as well? How would you say art has changed or influenced your life?
They are gifts to the world. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift — as my grandfather has always told me. He also said, “What’s the hardest arithmetic to master? Counting your blessings.” So that’s what I do when I create art or receive any fruits from its creative nature. That changes my life and inspires my life. Live a little. Life is like a gamble. Roll the dice.
What do you feel is the role of street art culture in today’s mobile-connected, technologically saturated landscape? How will your art evolve to meet new modes of self-expression?
It’s all for promotional use in the palm of your hands. The only way I see it evolving is just what lies within that word itself: love. The creative mind is always evolving. That’s why you have technology in the first place. Like I said, it’s all relative, so turning it into something competitive is irrelevant no matter what. It’s going to either make or break you. So no matter what, evolve what you do. I do.
You were attacked and stabbed while completing a commissioned beautification mural in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. Reflecting on the experience and your efforts to help clean up neighborhoods, what do you think is the role of public art in the community when measured again the realities on the ground in these often dangerous environments?
The things we do for change, even within ourselves and for ourselves, are for the environment as well. Sacrifice is a motherfucker. You win some, you lose some.