Chor Boogie: 'Don't Call It Graffiti'

San Francisco artist Chor Boogie takes spray painting to a whole new level. In massive murals around the Bay Area and the world he combines the look and feel of street art with the imagery and precision of realism. Boogie’s latest work can be seen at Project One Gallery in San Francisco. It depicts an intricately painted woman’s face emerging from a jumble of graffiti and blob-like birds in deep rich color. KQED’s Mina Kim spoke with Boogie about his work.

“I consider it a landscape, a melodic landscape that flows with the piece. It runs along with what I call the purgatory style. It balances out the negative and the positive. That’s the spiritual aspect, and more of my street work too,” Boogie said of his latest work.

One of the things that defines Boogie is his attention to detail. He’s spent more than 20 years refining the exact pressures and angles to use on a spray can. Now, he can even spray paint a 2 inch painting piece.

“I strictly use spray paint, no additives, no preservatives. I honed it down to a craft where the details stand out. It looks like it could be done with oils, with a paintbrush, but it’s not,” Boogie says. “This is not graffiti. Graffiti is a different side of this medium.”

Boogie says he’s learned to release the attachment to a piece after it’s completed.

“I got a piece on Market Street now, it’s a couple hundred feet long and it’s been there for four or five years. It’s been destroyed, it’s been damaged, it’s been written on,” Boogie says. “They can have it. I’ll either go up and touch it up and clean it up for my own personal feeling. And it keeps it up to date for the audience. But I’ve released my attachment. They can have the wall.”

The show opens Friday night at 7 p.m. and will run until end of year.