We were lucky to catch up with David Chez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, David thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Last Spring, my wife and I returned home after back to back visits to LA and Austin. After being inspired and over stimulated by LA street art and the quirky colorful murals of Austin I couldn’t help but notice how drab and colorless my hometown city of Wilmington Delaware felt. This is when I decided to put my fears aside and follow through with an idea I have been toying with since the year prior.

2 weeks later on a rainy easter Sunday my friend and I pulled up to a 20 foot lamp post on a busy downtown street surrounded by bank buildings and the Amtrak transit center. From the back of his truck we each grabbed an end of a 8 foot wooden robot cut out and clamped it to the light post using a power drill. The friendly robot was hand painted purple and holding a big red heart above his head. After making sure it was fully secure, we hopped back into the truck and left our friend on the side of the road to greet the community as they drove into the city.

Over the next few days while planning the next robot drop I started receiving DMs and text messages from random people in the community. It really made me happy that this colorful wooden cut out was making such a positive impact on peoples’ day. Over the next few months, with help from my wife and son I cut, painted and hung a handful more throughout the city. Each holding a big heart, unique in their own way, my robot friends created a huge positive buzz around town and I noticed a big boost on social media. We began to get attention from kids, parents, the local news outlets and even City Officials all in support of this robot gang that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

Now 10 months later, most of my wooden friends are gone. Victims of the streets some were stolen, broken or just didn’t survive the change of seasons. I’m so grateful for the doors this project has opened to me and I will never forget all of the kind inspiring words, fan art and most of all the positive impact this has made on the community. I don’t regret sitting on this idea for that year, it was meant to happen when we needed it most.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m the middle child of 5, and have always been drawn to nonconformity, bright colors and humor. I was an artsy, punk rock, skater kid in high school and never spent any time in college. Instead I moved to NYC to pursue acting and ended up on tour as a front man of a Pop-punk band. After moving back home I got a job in a screen print shop and almost a decade later in 2009, I started my own print & design business and never looked back. Spaceboy Clothing just turned 16 years old this January and over the years I have learned and grown so much as an artist and business professional.

Toward the end of 2023, I launched Chez Creative. Feeling a need to explore other art mediums, I began a tattoo apprenticeship and started putting more focus on personal art and mural projects. I specialize in my own wacky style of art, graphics, branding, murals, clothing design and I’m usually open to whatever you might throw at me.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I knew about video cameras and editing, but I that is a recourse I wish was more accessable to me when I was younger. I grew up in the 90’s, my friend and I would take his step dad’s camcorder outside to capture stunts, whacky pranks and anything that would make us laugh before we got caught. I had no idea how much those big VHS tape, shoulder breaking cameras were worth back then, but I defiantly couldn’t afford one. Cringiness aside, I would love to have more memorable footage of those days.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I really wanted to attend Art Basel / Miami Art Week this past December. If I could join a group art show or even be featured in a gallery anywhere in the city would have been a dream come true. But I honestly had no idea how difficult that would be.

My wife and I flew out to Miami a few months prior for a short vacation and to do a little bit of networking at various galleries and shops. We met some very friendly people, shared my art and collected as much information as possible. After a few days of soaking in the Miami vibes and scouting possible locations we had to hop back on a flight back to Wilmington, Delaware. As soon as I got home, I diligently followed up on all of my leads and decided to step back and let the dust settle for a few days. As weeks went by my inbox sat empty with no reply emails, no return calls, literally nothing. I was pretty bummed, as days passed and the event got closer I realized I might have to just give up on this or throw Miami a huge curveball.

I rented a 15 foot U-Haul, backed it into my driveway and began taking measurements and photos from all angles. After studying the inside and every square inch of the whole vehicle from front to back, I returned the truck early the next morning. After dropping all of the photos and info onto my Macbook, I began mocking up the design and the plan for what was soon going to be the Chez Mobile Art Gallery.

We landed in Miami a few days before art week. I talked my wife into stuffing a roll of vinyl graphics into her check in luggage and I shipped my art and merch from home a few days prior. The next day I picked up another 15 foot U-Haul, identical to the one I studied back home and we began decking the exterior out in graphics and lining the inside walls with clean white sheeting. We then hung my artwork mounting it with velcro, some rechargeable lights, signage and a clothing rack.

The next day aka opening day I was feeling very nervous. Every single city official I had spoken to previously told me I was not allowed to do what I was about to do. The 10 minute drive to Wynwood felt like an hour as we hit traffic light after traffic light. My back was sticking to the driver’s seat, the music from the radio sounded like a blur as I looked over at my wife sitting in the passenger seat with the biggest smile.  After diving and dipping through traffic for a bit, we finally found a parking spot on a busy street and opened the door to The Chez Mobile Art Gallery for the first time. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://heychez.com
• Instagram: @hey_chez
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xheychezx/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidchez/

Image Credits

Images provided by Chez Creative