Mista Hippo informed me that the World Premiere of "Dirty Hands: The Art & Crimes of David Choe" will take place in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 26th at the Mann Festival Theatre. I doubt I'll be able to make it to the premiere, but I'm going to do my best to see one of the following showings during the subsequent weekend.

David Choe is amazing. His life is as interesting as his work. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the 1997 Wondercon (shortly after the release of his mind-fucking Xeric-grant "Slow Jams" comic). He was a super cool dude.

If you ever find a copy of "Slow Jams", read it. Best masturbation sequence ever captured on paper (any dude will appreciate Choe's authenticity!).

Since the release of "Slow Jams", Choe found plenty of well deserved attention and success. You can find many of his beautiful illustrations in older issues of Giant Robot magazine. His art has been circulating the fine art world for many, many years. You'll occasionaly find his mural work in various places around the world (his amazing redesign of The Kitchen on Sunset and Fountain is a walking distance from Jerry's house!).

I recall his crazy debacle with Marvel Comics when he had done preliminary work on NYX with Brian Wood. I was blown away to find out that Choe was arrested in Japan for stealing days before an art show and was stuck in a Japanese prison for months only to find God while doing art on napkins with his food and bodily fluids. It was a pleasure to find Choe backed away from his spiritual awakening to find the same thrills he found in stealing by gambling in Vegas and screwing The Man by winning hundreds of thousands in Black Jack. You'd think his life was a big fairy tale if it weren't for the pictures.

Oh yeah, and his art? Raw, honest, dirty, and fuckin' beautiful.

Here's the trailer for the film:

Muto is an amazing stop animation/short film created by Blu on the streets of Buenos Aires.

It's visions are deeply inspiring. Whatever Blu is working on next, I'll be sure to follow!

Check out his WEBSITE and BLOG.

I adored MAD Fold Ins as a kid. I spent HOURS at the library folding the back cover page of hundreds of Mad Magazines when I should have been focussing on some silly Elementary school report. As a child, there was a great thrill to be had in trying to figure out the picture without folding the page down the creases.

Now as an adult, it's far easier to see the trick... but it's still a brilliant idea whose beauty can be acknowledged beyond the novelty.

CLICK HERE TO SEE AN WONDERFUL ARCHIVE OF MAD FOLD INS!

I'm super excited about the Takashi Murakami retrospective Art Show at MoCA's Geffen Contemporary opening today. There's already been tons of sneak previews and coverage from the preview show and it looks bigger and better than I imagined.I'm a bit uncomfortable about the strong commercial presence of Louis Vuitton, though. I understand that Murakami's international success is integrally connected to his design collaborations with LV...but it's a little weird and insulting that a fully operating Louis Vuitton store is at the center of the Art Exhibit. Then again it's probably the ultimate mixing of Murakami's obsession with commercialism and branding.Here are some great pics from the show I found on the Supertouch Blog:

It was with great pleasure that we met the Mexico-based LEDY LEDY crew at the Esquina Norte Design Conference a couple weeks ago. They are currently hard at work on a line of vinyl figures that will be developed entirely in Mexico. Ledy Ledy is:MR. KONE is an illustrator based in Mexico City whose done tons of work for a variety of Mexican Magazines and publications. His blog is filled with work that demonstrates his great range of artistic style.ZOVECK'S whimsical art is both familiar and fantastic...like that wonderful dream you can't quite remember. His San-Tos statue is one of Jerry's favorite pieces, EVER!ROBOT SODA'S Arenas illustration has a crisp modern style that finds inspiration in classical animation. He's the only guy I've met whose adoration for retro Anime robot design and Tezuka surpasses my own.ESCOBAS is Mexican Wrestling's Ed Hardy. He's reinterpreting the iconography of Lucha Libre through a variety of fashion-based products and new Luchadores mask designs.Mr. Kone, Escobas, Jerry, Zoveck, Arenas, MPBUpcoming Ledy Ledy VinylMr. KoneZoveckArenas (Robot Soda)EscobasJerry, Mr. ? (w/Escobas mask), MPB

I though only Homer would do that... (thanks to ADN for the link.)