I just wanted to give everybody a heads up on the upcoming "CRAZIANS!" show at the World of Wonder gallery down in Hollywood which opens July 11th and runs until August 4th, 2008.
World of Wonder
6650 Hollywood Blvd
Sutie 400
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Call them at(323)603-6300 if you are interested in purchasing any of the pieces.
The show follows the theme of rising Asian American artists and the cultural influences on their art. As America's endless fascination with "the East," the show takes a look at how our generation of Asian American artists interpret the phenomenon. Seeing how i am completely awesome and not just because i'm asian, I have been asked to be a part of this show...ok i'm sure that it's mainly because i'm asian...but...just check out the piece i did for it already. damn.
it's my version of the legendary ghost hunter : Zhong Kui!
Title: "Zhong Kui: The Evil Effer Upper"
Medium: acrylic on paper
size: 8" x 10"
so who is this "Zhong Kui" you ask?? and why is he such a badass? well, i'm really no expert on the subject, but my mom used to tell me stories about this Chinese demon slayer muthafoodger when i was a kid, and his name was Zhong Kui (take note, in chinese, the surname "Zhong" is the same as "Chung"..therefore, i am badass by association). So anyways, here's my interpertation of him from what my mom told me as a kid and also from what i've read in chinese folktale books and of course wikipedia.
Anyways, Zhong Kui used to be this crazy ass scholar from the Tang dynasty or somewhere around then, who wanted to take this imperial exam to be let into the gates of awesomness. On his journey to take his SATs he stops at a temple to have dinner with some monks, and because he's such a crazy bastard, he drinks all their chinese wine and gets sloppy drunk and starts bad mouthing all the demons in hell. saying things like, " Man eff those dicks! i'll kill all of them, those dirty doucheballs!"
The demons in hell having heard him badmouthing them, decides to take a magic marker and draw on his face while he was drunk and passed out on the monk's couch. they originally had drawn a dick on the side of his face pointing to his mouth, but it smeared so they covered it up with a big black beard and then gave him a unibrow too.
Finally having made it to take his exam, he passes with an A+ and even got a scratch and sniff strawberry scented sticker on the front, but when the examiners saw how ridiculous he looked with all that magic marker on his face, they took it away from him and he failed. Completely pissed off he decided to take revenge on them by doing a triple mega hurricane backflip off the roof head first onto the steps of the palace and plaster his brain juice all over the place for them to clean up. He died 2 hours later laughing to death.
After he died and got sent to hell, everybody saw what he had done and thought he was the ultimate badass, and was given 3,000 soldiers to go out and kill demons on earth. Then one night when the emperor was sleeping in his cozy palace bed, a demon sneaked into his place and stole his favorite jade flute and his concubine's purse which contained all of her B.C. pills. The emperor awoke to this and screamed like a little girl, then out of no where Zhong Kui appears and rips out the demons eyes. And just to show off his awesome finishing move, Zhong Kui picks up the demon and eats him as if he were a burrito! The emperor was so grateful and impressed he asked him who he was, to which he got in response, "I'm Zhong Kui, you sloppy bastard. The demon slayer." then in a POOF! OF SMOKE!!...he walks away.
The next day the emperor was so stoked that he got to meet the demon slayer, went to the police and had their sketch artist paint him a portrait of Zhong Kui so that he could tape it on his door next to his poster of AC/DC
So from then on, the chinese people have been putting pictures of Zhong Kui on their front doors of their homes and places of business for ages as a symbol of protection against evil spirits and local assholes. And that's why you don't leave the air conditioning running when you leave your home either.
Well, there you have it, the incredible story of Zhong Kui and why everybody should own a print of him so you can put him on your front door or anywhere in your home for that matter. If any of you are interested in having the above piece of art replicated as a print for you to own at a reasonably affordable price, please leave a comment below and i'll see what i can do.