By Elena Buckley | SDUN Editorial Assistant

Former Banker’s Hill resident Jason Hailey brought his signature aerosol art to a section of Germany’s historic Berlin Wall in October. It’s an adventure that has earned him acclaim in both alternative and mainstream art circles, as well as some major cash and kudos. The section of the wall he painted sold for $500,000 euros—about half the cost of the 2009 restoration of the entire wall. During an interview with Uptown News, Hailey, who goes by the name Chor Boogie, discussed his latest feat, crediting Uptown and downtown San Diego’s burgeoning art scene with his growth as an artist.

“My first major project was in San Diego,” Boogie said. “I painted a two-sided, three-story rope climbing course for Tony Robbins when I was 17. Then I curated a show at the Museum of Contemporary Art (while) collaborating with Writerz Blok, a youth organization with the Jacobs Family Foundation (JFF) that went along with the museum’s Thursday Night Thing shows.”

From there, Boogie went on to bigger and brighter projects, taking his art from the streets of San Diego to the walls of China, Australia, Dubai and Mexico. Boogie’s life was clearly enhanced by his association with the Writerz Blok, a local nonprofit foundation that works in partnership with the JFF and residents of San Diego’s low-income neighborhoods to strengthen communities and, ironically, prevent graffiti. Writerz Blok’s outdoor revolving art gallery covers approximately 13,000 square feet of wall space with aerosol art and murals created by local youth. The site is run by volunteers and staff members who coordinate services and activities for as many as 250 youth a week, from elementary schoolers to young adults. So, although Boogie received no formal art education, his vivid spray enamel art flourished under the organization’s tutelage.

Now a resident of San Francisco, Boogie is working hard to dispel the myth that graffiti isn’t real art, and painting on the unlikely canvas of the Berlin Wall might just do the trick.

San Diego Uptown News: How did the opportunity to paint a mural on the Berlin Wall come about?

Chor Boogie: There’s this collective out in Los Angeles called L.A. Art Machine that I’m involved in and they invited me to paint at an arts fair in Berlin called Stroke Art Fair. I had a booth set up and was creating some pieces out there to. As I was doing this, I noticed that this guy was watching me for about 10 days, just watching how I was painting, observing the techniques and the style. I guess something
tipped him over to the point where he finally came up to me, asking me if I would like to paint on a section of the Berlin Wall. Apparently he owns 300 sections of the Berlin Wall and he’s getting rid of 50 of them around the world. He brought me back there because I didn’t believe him at first and (then he) shows me this wall and says, ‘This is your wall, you can go ahead and paint it, do anything you want to it.’ He actually had the wall craned out to the front of the art fair and I started painting it live. It’s just been an honor to be a part of history, bringing American art history to East German history.

SDUN: Was there an idea behind what you chose to paint?

Boogie: It’s a series that I’ve been painting called ‘Purgatory,’ and it’s like a balance between heaven and hell, good and bad. And the reason that I painted that on there is because there’s a lot of turmoil in this world and a lot of people I felt were stuck in purgatory on both sides of the wall because they either had family on one or the other side, and they couldn’t really have any communication or contact with them. A lot of people died going over the wall just by trying to reach the other side. Basically I believe that the wall was borderline purgatory, so I showed a lot of the pain that was involved. But I’m bringing the balance in with the colors, with my whole color therapy aspect, showing the good side of the art on the wall. People had this bland wall blocking their communication and in order to overcome the wall they had a bunch of artists paint it to take the negative perspective out of the equation and cover up the pain. So there’s been nothing but amazing artwork painted on these walls

SDUN: Did you know what you were going to paint beforehand or did you just go in blind?

Boogie: I just went into it. That’s pretty much how I do everything. Paint is like improv, so I just flow with everything that I do from the heart.

SDUN: Are there aspects of your art that you think make it stand out?

Boogie: I have my own beliefs and my own meanings for my artwork, which I consider
color therapy. I think colors heal people—subconsciously or consciously—whether you like it or not. And I have an established meaning for my artwork and it’s totally different from the genre of this whole spray paint culture. Personally, I’m a traditionalist. It’s just me and the spray can. I say no additives, no preservatives. So I don’t use any type of tools to create the intricate, detailed designs that I do, and the details and the surrealistic aspects of what I do, and that’s what separates me from a lot of individuals when it comes to this culture and the style itself. The style is an original aspect of what I do, which stands alone. You see what I do on the street and you know it’s a Chor Boogie piece. You can’t call it graffiti, you can’t call it street art—it’s art, it’s all art, everything’s art.

SDUN: Why use spray paint as your main medium?

Boogie: I’ve been using spray paint for 20 years. Once I picked up that can there was just something about it that was sort of different from every other medium. It was more challenging. It was like a calling—I needed to paint with this medium over anything else. It’s not really a traditional medium and I just felt like it needed to be established that way. People need to respect the art side of it more.

SDUN: Why do you think taking on an experience like this is so important?

Boogie: It’s like, why not? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, my first time in Europe and I ended up painting on the Berlin Wall. I know there were a lot of phenomenal artists at that art fair, but to be the only one chosen was just an honor. I had to take it.

SDUN: As part of the graffiti culture, one typically takes on a new name. How did you decide on the name Chor Boogie?

Boogie: The name came from many failed attempts of deciding an original name that fit within this spray paint culture. But when I heard the name Chor, I heard the angels singing, and as time went by I felt I needed a last name and Boogie it was. Chor Boogie, yeah, it just made sense to me. (…) My art is my Chor and I get Boogie with it.