In 2012, I participated in a group exhibition, Giant Robot Biennale 3, at the Japanese American National Museum. On the opening night, I met an interesting elderly lady. She dressed bright and colorful like a peacock that stood out in the crowd of people. She came to me and showed so much interest in my work. We talked briefly, but eventually got distracted by the crowd of people. 15 minutes later she brought her son David Choe to see my work again. I knew David, but not very well. I knew he is a rock star in the art scene but didn’t really know much about him. I was very excited to meet him but we talked only briefly.
David and I met again at the closing party a few months later. This time we got to talk more. He showed interest in buying my work, but I was just informed by Eric Nakamura (curator and GR founder) that the Cat Robot was sold. David decided to commission a work from me. The idea of the work is simple, instead of the cat themed piece I made; he wanted a piece with a dog. David said he hates people getting away with the things he wanted, so the commission has to be 10 times better than the Cat Robot. There is no deadline so go crazy with it. Since then I started listening to his podcast and tried to get to know him better.
The commissioned piece, "Loyal Friend" is influenced by David's podcast "DVDASA." The show is hosted by David and the adult film superstar Asa Akira (Best Female Performer of the Year 2012 & 2013), thus DVDASA. It also stands for Double Vaginal Double Anal Sensitive Artist. The show is extremely sexual and quite disgusting sometimes. However, it was the No. 1 Health podcast on iTunes at some point.
DVDASA is almost like a reality show but in podcast form and YouTube. It's definitely not for everyone and it could be tough to assimilate, but once you get passed all the dirty jokes it's actually quite entertaining and inspirational. Pretty soon I started listening to it religiously. On the show they invited their friends as special guests. They talked about all kinds of topics; sex, money, life experiences, stories with fiction or nonfiction. The word 'allegedly' is used in many occasions. Sometimes, it’s just a group of friends talking nonsense and having fun. Sometimes, David will make motivational speeches about life for all the struggling souls out there listening. Eventually I became a fan of his work, the podcast is the extension of his art. It's dirty but sensational.
The podcast is known for putting people's career and life at risk after going on the show. The fact that I'm actually making child friendly art for Disney, I probably shouldn't be associating with them. Oh well, I love the show and will always support it… allegedly!