Hit Artist

Photo: Found Creative Studio

Art can pop up in the unlikeliest of places—take for instance the Westfield Mission Valley management office near Nordstrom Rack. It’s the latest place to be hit by artist and Oceanside native Chor Boogie. If you won’t be applying for a mall job anytime soon, you can view the artist’s work at the taco shop Puesto in La Jolla, as well as the new Puesto in The Headquarters at Seaport District. Or, maybe you’ve passed it at Westfield Horton Plaza or Body Mark’s Tattoo on El Cajon Boulevard.

But don’t call it graffiti. “I use the term ‘modern hieroglyphics’ or ‘street romantic voodoo,’” Boogie says. “Graffiti is illegal.” One identifying motif in many of his works is the “Boogie bird,” which “has the power of cuteness” and which he’s been incorporating for nearly a decade, “before Angry Birds.” He doesn’t sketch first—just freestyles layer upon layer, sometimes repeating words (look for “Westfield” in the above mural). Entitled The Boogie Bird’s Nest, the mural above is made up of about 20 to 30 layers of paint and took about five hours to complete. Boogie’s work can also be seen in other cities like Baton Rouge, San Francisco, and L.A., and abroad in Puerto Rico, Germany, China, and Australia.