I had the pleasure of spending last night at my alma mater. Each spring UWSP’s Art and Design department hosts NOWhere, a conference which features workshops and presentations by two high profile designers as well as presentations by alumni (me!).

Last night’s featured designer was Chase, a Belgium native who originally began painting murals throughout Los Angeles with the simple intent of spreading his message throughout the world.He has since been recognized for his unique style and has created custom pieces for big companies and licensed his work to be used on everything from housewares to skateboards.

He uses two basic motifs over and over, each with a well-defined concept behind them. My favorite is the “Awareness Geezers,” which are these characters with very large eyes who have gained a wisdom of sorts. When Chase paints these he finishes the piece by spraying  stenciled “truths” on top.

Some of my favorite pieces are the ones that consist almost wholly of these spray painted “truths.” When I saw the installation above during his presentation, all I could think was “I want that in my house!” Luckily, Chase was kind enough to give us all a tiny piece of his work — after the presentation, we all went outside and he painted anything we wanted. I got my purse painted with his signature eyes!

top two images from http://theartofchase.com