David Choe is a Los Angeles-based American artist, musician, actor, and former journalist (born April 21, 1976). The work of Choe is featured in numerous urban cultural and entertainment contexts. He has written and illustrated for publications like Hustler, Ray Gun, and Vice.
His partnership with the Asian pop culture retailer/magazine Big Robot is ongoing. His “dirty style” is a rough, frantic approach that he has dubbed for his figurative paintings that explore themes of desire, depravity, and exaltation.
David Choe Net Worth: How Much Money Does He Have?
American painter, graffiti artist, graphic novelist, and muralist David Choe has a $300 million fortune. In graffiti, David Choe is recognized for his figure paintings and is associated with the bucktoothed whale.
In addition to co-hosting the “DVDASA” podcast with adult film star Asa Akira, he has written for publications like “Hustler,” “Vice,” and “Ray Gun.” In addition to the 2008 documentary “Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe,” Choe has released the books “Slow Jams” (1999), “Bruised Fruit: The Art of David Choe” (2002), “Cursiv” (2003), and “David Choe” (2020).
Moreover, he has made appearances on the television programs “The Mandalorian,” “Vice,” “Better Things,” and “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” (2021).
How Many Paydays Did He Get From Facebook?
Sean Parker, the founder of Facebook, noticed David’s graffiti art around the beginning of the millennium. Parker contracted Choe to paint the interior walls of Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters. Choe informed Parker that his asking price was $60,000 for a haggle.
When Sean spoke with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, he proposed that Sean accept his payment as company stock rather than cash. It was an excellent idea. David acquired an unknown number of shares of Facebook, and as of right now, he does not hold a sizeable enough stake to be disclosed by the firm in financial filings.
Yet, we can say with some certainty that David Choe’s equity at the time of Facebook’s IPO was worth about $200 million. His stakes at various points could likely have been worth $300-500 million given how much Facebook’s stock has appreciated in value since the IPO.
How Did David Choe Start His Career?
After serving a week in jail for his graffiti, David Choe moved home with his parents and began writing and illustrating for numerous publications, including “Vice.” Also, he made an appearance in the “Vice” online series “Thumbs Up!” (2007–2010), which followed David and his best friend Harry Kim as they hitchhiked across China and took trains across the country.
Choe started a relationship with the pop culture shop and magazine “Giant Robot” about the same time he got connected with “Vice.” David placed his artwork in the Double Rainbow ice cream parlor on Melrose Avenue after art galleries showed little interest.
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Buyers enjoyed it so much that the store let him display his work there for two years, adding new items whenever a previous one sold. He initially printed about 200 copies of the graphic novel “Slow Jams” and distributed them at Comic-Con in 1998 before self-publishing it in 2006.
After submitting the graphic novel for the Xeric Grant, Choe received $5,000 to self-publish an enlarged edition of 1,000 copies. Despite having a $4 cover price when it was first released in 1999, the graphic novel has recently gone for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
The documentary “Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe,” released in 2008, is described as an “intense portrait of David Choe, a young near-schizophrenic street artist who devises numerous criminal schemes that afford him to hitchhike across the globe.”
Harry Kim documented David’s life for more than ten years. Choe received a solo exhibition at the Santa Rosa Museum of Contemporary Art in 2005 after hosting several solo exhibitions in San Francisco and San Jose.
