By Chris Rockwell

Little did I know that the guy I was hanging with had recently painted for the Beijing Olympics, Playboy, Jay-Z, The Prince of Dubai and orphanages in Mexico; just to name a few impressive accomplishments that he never happened to mention the entire time I hung out with him. In fact, the only piece of work he insisted I see was the mural he had painted for the Children’s Museum of Art in San Diego. That’s Chor Boogie.

I had the good fortune of getting to know Chor recently during an art expose with my Artsprojekt.com Fam at the Agenda/ASR show in San Diego. My good friend and KD photographer Rob Greenleaf introduced us before the show and we ended up hitting it off and hanging out a couple nights. There was no bullshit about this guy, pure and honest energy flowed through his eyes, smile and art. He had been to the edge and came back with a positive message about living through “color therapy”.

Our adventure started when Chor and I cruised over to a hookah lounge at Med Café and met up with his long-time friend and painter Evolve for dinner. We ended up walking the Gas Lamp district of San Diego and then veered off onto side streets past midnight looking at work they had done, listening to nostalgic stories of walls and buildings they had painted over the years, stopping along the way to grab some grub at a Mexican joint and say “what’s up” to some fellow artists they knew from the scene.

The final night we jumped in Evolves truck and rolled out to the only known legal graffiti park in America called Writers Block, where Chor had been a curator and mentor for many aspiring young artists. We spent the next five hours until almost 2am as Chor, Andy Howell, Jim Mahfood, Evolve, Andy Brown and LA’s legendary graffiti artist Slick started doing their thing with over one hundred cans of paint,while Evolves truck bumped a mix tape from one of the OG’s from Writers Block. As the guys painted, Greenleaf rolled in from LA and a film guy from Vimby.com showed up to capture the magic moment that was unveiling itself. By the end of the night there was a 15-foot canvas that was a magic mix of artistic styles and attitude. Chor’s contribution was a sight to see. We all stood there at times dazed, partially from the fumes, trying to figure out how Chor could create images that seemed to defy what spray paint was limited to. It almost seemed impossible. But Chor looked like a cross between a magician and a composer orchestrating the paint, as if it was literally flowing out of his fingers. You’d have to see it to believe it. I was lucky to witness him in the zone.

And I am honored to consider him a friend.

Visit Chor Boogie @ www.chorboogie.com

Visit Chor on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/pages/CHOR-BOOGIE/43432317490