Last week, Luke Chueh and Prints on Wood released a 150% scale of what's come to be known as his most famous work, "The Soundtrack (To My Life)," limited to 150 copies. It's a belated "10th anniversary" release (Chueh's website indicates that the piece was actually made in 2004) and a chance for the artist to reflect upon a painting that helped kickstart his career.

Today, Chueh is renowned in both the pop surrealism scene and the designer toy world. He has had solo shows at popular galleries like Corey Helford in Culver City, Calif. and Rotofugi in Chicago. He continues to captivate the San Diego Comic-Con crowd with figures he has released in connection with toy company Munky King. Back when Chueh released "The Soundtrack," though, he was new two the art world. "I still didn't know whether or not I had a career in this," he says while chatting over lunch at a Los Angeles pizza spot. "Everything was still in a world of uncertainty." 

Luke Chueh

The former graphic designer, who had previously worked in advertising, was charged with making a mixed CD cover for his friend L.C., a DJ and artist who founded L.A.'s long running underground art party, Cannibal Flower. The concept that Chueh devised was simple; he was simply trying to reference DJ culture with his own self-proclaimed "depressing twist."

Chueh painted a white bear—a character now considered a hallmark of his work—behind a tunrtable, looking forlorn while holding a broken record. The inspiration was a noise record. Chueh no longer recalls who the artist behind that slab of vinyl was, but the record was split in half and packaged in a 6" x 12" envelope. The halved record was meant to be played as a whole, Chueh explains, with the needle bouncing off the gorge. Chueh thought about DJ worst-case scenarios. "It could warp, right? It can scratch," he says, "but that's not something that I can easily illustrate." Painting a record that was broken, though, would work. 

Even before he unveiled the painting, Chueh had a good feeling about it. He scanned the piece at a very high resolution (making it possible to do all those prints) and placed the original in a group show organized by influential gallery Giant Robot, alongside pieces from notables like David Choe and Barry McGee. It sold for $400. "That was a lot at the time," he adds, noting that he would sell pieces much larger than this 12" x 12" painting for $300. Since then, "The Soundtrack" has taken on a life of its own. Chueh has released several limited edition prints, all of which have sold out. He also appears on authorized cell phone and laptop skins. "The Soundtrack" struck a chord with art lovers. 

"At face value, it's a funny image," says Eric Nakamura of Giant Robot in an email. "In its depth, it lays the foundation of Luke Chueh's work that continues today. The self deprecating visual language continues, yet the meanings have amplified. Why is it his most popular remains a mystery. Maybe the visual combo that crosses genres of art and music: DJing bear, turntable, and broken record. Perhaps it's the emotion captured in the eyes of the bear. I'd like to think it's the latter."

In "The Soundtrack," Chueh visually conveys the frustration and sadness often found in our favorite songs. The inspiration might have been a noise record, but the sentiment similar to what listeners love about works by bands like The Smiths or M83. In case it weren't obvious, Chueh is a serious music fan, too. He grew up in Fresno, a city in Central California, where he notes that he lacked the access to alternative radio that kids in L.A. had. Through a friend, he found out about Nitzer Ebb, the industrial outfit. "It was great because they had the aesthetic of a Depeche Mode or an Erasure, but it had the anger that mirrored what I had towards everything around me," he says. From there, he ventured into the rave underground. 

In college, Chueh frequently traveled to Los Angeles and San Francisco, where he immersed himself in electronic music and underground parties. He landed a spot on his college radio station, where he focused on intelligent dance music (IDM) and launched a zine called EXP. Chueh admits that since his art career took off, he hasn't paid as much attention to music, but he still is inspired by songs. Currently, he has been listening to the Japanese band Mono while he works. "It's very heavy, kind of sad, almost shoegazer-y sounds with almost orchestral builds and backing melodies," he says. "When I'm listening to the music and painting, it helps me get into that space where I can create." 

We asked Chueh to make a playlist that ties to "The Soundtrack" and to explain his selections.

Luke Chueh on "The Soundtrack (To My Life)" Playlist

"There's an art in the playlist. It starts off with the Club 8 'Jesus Walk with Me,' which is a nice song to listen to first thing in the morning. There's a lot of a lovey-dovey feeling in some of the songs. Then it kind of takes a turn around Death Cab for Cutie, which is then followed by The Smiths 'How Soon Is Now?' They lyrics about going to the club and being by yourself and going home and crying are really filled with this kind of visual connotations that I would love to find a way to illustrate in my work, just because I've been there before, not necessarily crying over it, but like I might as well have been. 

"Then it goes back to 'Feeling Yourself Disintegrate' by the Flaming Lips, which is actually the song that inspired me to paint 'Disintegration,' which is one of my more popular pieces.

"'Tiny Vessels' by Death Cab for Cutie, it's one of those songs, when I was dating my last girlfriend, whenever she wasn't around, I would have that song playing in my car as a reminder that this relationship isn't going to work out. A lot of songs have personal feelings for me.

"'Lonesome Tears' by Beck, I love that song. Then we get into the band I mentioned earlier, Mono with 'Ashes in the Snow' and it all ends on kind of a hopeful note with Mogwai, 'Fear Satan.' There's something in that song that really has a hopefulness that I feel is really beautiful.

"If I was going to put an encore track, it would be the whole EP of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Slow Riot [for a New Zero Kanada]. I love that EP. I was just listening to that recently. It's probably my favorite Godspeed thing ever. I think that, if you're a fan of my work, that's something you should listen to."

• Club 8, "Jesus Walk with Me"
• New Order, "Temptation"
• Flaming Lips, "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate"
• The Radio Dept., "The Worst Taste in Music"
• M83, "We Own the Sky"
• The Smiths, "How Soon Is Now?"
• The Cure, "A Night Like This"
• Beck, "Lonesome Tears"
• Mono, "Ashes in the Snow"
• Mogwai, "Fear Satan"