Cursiv

The latest chapter of this book-bloggin' Choe-a-thon is Cursiv: Giant Robot presents a book of dirty drawings by David Choe. Published in conjunction with the inaugural exhibition at GR2 in Los Angeles, Cursiv is a black and white book that focuses more on Dave's drawings. Like Bruised Fruit, this book also features a lot of hand-written commentary on the artwork, which gives insights to the artistic process and history to go with each page.

Many of the drawings are the "bones and skeletons" before Dave applies the "skin, muscles, and make-up" of paint. It is nice to see the original sketches, all of which look pretty spontaneous and expressive, of such popular paintings as the Korean Brothers and other recognizable pieces. The book also has a lot of images of drawings that would later find homes as posters, T-shirt designs, and printed illustrations. You may even recognize a few bits that ended up in other incarnations within the Bruised Fruit and Slow Jams books.

While lacking the amazing narrative of Slow Jams and the diversity of artwork of Bruised Fruit, Cursiv is a nice addition to the Choe catalog and an essential element of his overall catalog. It is rare to get to see the process of the creation of a body of work, which is such an important part of being an artist, so it is nice to have an accessible collection of drawings together in one publication. While David Choe might be well-known for his fuck-all antics and his no-holds-barred attitude, this book demonstrates that behind the character there lies a phenomenally talented and truly creative draftsman.

Oh yeah, and there are lots of pictures of naked ladies and curse words, too.

Cursiv is currently the only Dave Choe book in print and is quite affordable at only 12 bucks. You can get your copy right now from Rowan Morrison by clicking this button:
International orders: please email us shipping options.
Uh-oh... looks like we have sold out again, and, even worse, it may finally be out-of-print (I saw a copy sell for $45 bucks on ebay). Please check the Rowan Morrison online bookstore for updates or send me an email at info@rowanmorrison.com. Thanks.