Chor Boogie and the Evolution of Modern Hieroglyphics

Chor Boogie meditating in his studio
Copyright © 2014 John Jerney

Hieroglyphics: A formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians, among other cultures, that combines logographic (symbolic) and alphabetic elements.

Modern Hieroglyphics: The magic that happens on the street when aerosol art culture meets the emotional landscape of a melodic symphony expressed through color therapy. At least that’s the definition you’ll hear if you ask San Francisco-based aerosol artist Chor Boogie about the term he coined a few years ago to describe the dramatic and colorful spray paint murals and canvasses he has been creating for the past 25 years.

It’s also, coincidently, the title of an art culture magazine Chor cofounded with Jack McKain in 2013 to give voice to this largely underrepresented and often misunderstood global art form.

“It’s street romantic voodoo,” said Chor while working in his studio preparing for his latest exhibition BALANCE | New Paintings by Chor Boogie & Jet Martinez, which opened recently at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco. “It’s the name of my style, and it’s also a way of life.”

Many might think of what he does as “street art” but, according to Chor, that term fails to capture the essence and dynamics of the work. “It’s much more than that,” he explained. “It’s about the symbols, letter forms, and images that tell the story of a lifestyle. It’s what we are doing in this culture and what’s going on today. It’s about love and life. And it’s about developing our own history on walls and canvases.”

The Road to Modern Hieroglyphics

Chor started his journey to the world of modern hieroglyphics at the age of five, while growing up in the coastal community of Oceanside, California, a suburb of San Diego. Walking by the aqueducts as a child, Chor recalled seeing graffiti and aerosol art for miles. “Some of it was a big mashup of colors,” explained Chor, “and it looked like magic to me.” The effect was magnetic and, by the age of 13, that energy drew him to the spray can.

Now at 35, Chor has painted murals or had exhibitions in San Francisco, Washington DC, Mountain View (Google’s headquarters), Los Angeles, and San Diego, as well as in Canada, Brazil, Australia, Dubai, and Mexico. In China and Germany, he has been commissioned to paint murals for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, as well as on a fragment of the Berlin Wall.

Comfortable in both representational and abstract forms, Chor’s most distinguishing characteristic is his use of an extremely large palette that, together with his unique technique of holding the spray paint can upside-down as he paints, yields eye-popping creations. His oeuvre includes canvases as large as 60” x 40”, all the way down to a series of aerosol-painted Boogie Birds measuring just two inches by two inches.

With his work finding its way into private and museum collections, Chor has been working alongside other artists to bring the legitimacy of fine art to his aerosol creations, essentially driving a movement to take the art from the street and put it in the gallery. But notwithstanding encouraging results achieved by leading figures, most notably the English artist Banksy, Chor has found that overcoming preconceived notions is anything but easy.

“The misconception of this medium,” lamented Chor, “is that even after someone has built their name, their brand, and their value, there remain people who think that it somehow warrants being free. It’s required a lot of love and persistence, knowing where I am right now, and how I’m advancing and evolving to new levels as I grow.”

Spreading the Love

For Chor, part of this evolution involves focusing on spreading a message of love and understanding through his art. “Everything is messed up, and we need a solution,” explained Chor. “That’s why I need to paint love.” But it’s love in an unconventional form, one in which Chor sees his role principally as a deliverer of truth.

Case in point, his latest work entitled Just Us, a play on words that is meant to evoke and represent Lady Justice, the blindfolded allegorical personification of judicial morality. “In my painting, naturally she is blindfolded,” noted Chor, “but the blindfold is removed through financial trickery.” Similarly, Chor challenges the deceit of weapons portrayed as peacemakers and fear promulgated through lies.

“Some people are blind to this, and some people don’t care, but I have to tell you the truth because I love you,” explained Chor. “That’s the main point of all of these pieces; people need to know the truth.” And, in the end, that just might be the real purpose of modern hieroglyphics.