Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Filmmaker Harry Kim followed urban artist David Choe for seven years, documenting Choe's turbulent coming-of-age as an artist. The resulting documentary, "Dirty Hands," isn’t simply about art -- it is art.  Kim brings us beyond the spray paint, the urine, and soy sauce that Choe uses on his canvases, and presents a strikingly intimate, raw portrait of the artist.

"Dirty Hands" traces Choe's reckless artistic and philosophical journey as he leaves his hometown of Los Angeles and wanders the world. From a search for a dinosaur in the Congo to a three month stint in a Japanese prison, Choe creates and experiences art, pain, love, sexual addiction, loneliness, depression, redemption, and God. 

The film, which premiered at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival, made its way through the San Diego Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and continued through the Hawaii International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. This week only, May 21 - 27, "Dirty Hands" is showing as an exclusive engagement at the Roxie in San Francisco.

Catch it while it's still out --  it won't be around for long, according to Kim: "This is it, a chance for me to show you the film. After that, it's going back underground."