LONDON.- Lazarides Gallery London presents David Choe’s solo exhibition ‘Murderous Heart’, on view through April 25, 2008. David Choe, brave, bold and vulgar US artist has teamed up with the Lazarides Galleries in both London and Newcastle to show a series of powerful new works called ‘Murderous Heart’.

Choe’s ascent has been as rapid and diverse as his output, and his award-winning work can be found pretty much everywhere, from comics to magazines, trainers to films, toys to t-shirts. For his first solo show in the UK, Choe has created works that have become paintings through the art of wanting to kill. Large and small, powerful and cheeky, these canvases are made with typical Choe-style panache using water colours, acrylics, spraypaint, ink pen, pencils and oils. Beautiful girls with manga lips and jutting breasts wrestle for space against violent, guerrilla machine-men wielding street weapons. Yet out of the chaos comes a thoughtful kaleidoscope of colour and clever technique, creating a body of work that is like Choe himself – challenging, and playful.

Choe’s antics are almost as well known and loved as his art. Whether banged up in a prison cell in Tokyo for four months or facing death in the African jungle, he is always creating. In jail, he used his urine and soy sauce as materials for his art; in the wilds he kept hypnotic diaries as records.

Choe hasn’t hitch-hiked his way around the world for nothing – the more the troublesome thrill-seeker wanders, the more of his angry energy is transposed into art. The result is a mind-blowing combination of skill, hardcore experience and a zest for being alive. Instead of using his angry energy to destroy things and people, Choe has destroyed the notion that a rebel has no cause.

Born in 1976, raised in Los Angeles and of Korean descent, Choe is currently living in San Jose, California. In 2005 he had a solo show at MOCA Santa Rosa. He has lectured and talked at leading American Universities including Princeton, Duke and Dartmouth and published three comic/journal/novellas, Bruised Fruit, Cursive and Slow Jams. Choe’s commercial clients include Marvel Comics, Nike, Levi’s and IBM. Dirty Hands: The Art and Life of David Choe will be premiered in 2008. For his first solo show at the Lazarides Galleries, a limited edition print will also be available.