Most of us have a way of expressing our creativity, whether it’s snapping a photo or making a handmade card. But the majority of us are not painters, and when presented with an empty canvas or giant wall we would likely feel intimidated, not knowing where to begin. When Thomas Christopher Haag sees a blank “canvas” or empty wall, his work of art begins with a process of contemplation and a vision that comes from a deeper place of inspiration. According to Thomas, “most of my pieces describe a specific situation, sometimes very banal, but played out by epic and complex myth personalities which are usually a mashed conglomerate of several different cultural icons from various religions and mythologies, literature and television. These huge movements basically define who we are as humans today, in all of our epic complexity.”

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Thomas Christopher Haag, a most interesting person (who was once a smuggler amongst other things) and painter whose fascinating work can be seen at Pfeifer Studio and online at thomaschristopherhaag.com. When interviewing an artist, I like to first find out what their connection is to Pfeifer Studio then dive right into the process of creating a work of art and what’s behind the artist at hand. I am grateful to Thomas for sharing his insight into how the first brush stroke leads to the second one, so on and so forth, until eventually a magnificent painting or contemplative mural reveals itself.

How did you meet AJ and when did you start showing your work at Pfeifer Studio? Was there a particular reason you chose Pfeifer Studio to represent your work?

AJ and I met while we were neighbors in the upper Nob Hill neighborhood (of Albuquerque). Pfeifer Studio was next door to Stove, a gallery cooperative I was squatting in at the time. I lived in an elevated box behind the gallery space and I bucket bathed in the back alley. I miss it sometimes.

I don't remember exactly how I started showing at AJ’s place; I probably guilt-tripped him or put them up myself when he wasn't looking and he was nice enough to leave them up.

When I first saw your paintings, I imagined myself in an Egyptian tomb or a cave wall carved with hieroglyphs. But there also seems to be an urban edge to some of your work—kind of a mix of the now with the historical past. I especially noticed this with welcome to and there goes the neighborhood. I'm wondering if you can please tell me about this painting.

welcome to and there goes the neighborhood
36x72" reclaimed latex house paint, colored pencil and paper collage on hollow core door, 2010
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Let's see, welcome to and there goes the neighborhood, the children-type personalities are both highly grateful and deeply dubious about the flying adultish character that slowly glides above them releasing some sort of atomic goodwill cloud out of his hand. He seems to be heading straight into the heart of some kind of towering suburban high rise complex thingy. There's a bird. It's based on a dream I've had my whole life, which is a fluke because I usually never really paint what I dream because that would be cheesy. In my dreams I help people and I'm awesome and it's all about me.

As an artist, when it comes to your surroundings, what can't you live without?

Mostly oxygen. And ridiculousness…especially the hilarious kind.

I know it's a common question, but do you have any favorite artists that you admire?

I've stolen ideas and techniques from so many artists I couldn't even count. Dead and alive. I love so many…way too many.

I am drawn to your particular use of color and the beautiful muted tones that seem very grounded in the earth. I believe I read that this muted tone quality came about by accident due to a situation where you ended up sanding your painting for one reason or another. Please feel free to clarify. Were there any other "accidents" you've experienced along the way?

Oh yeah the sanding thing, it freaks people out a little. I had been working in my studio in Seattle on a series of paintings like six years ago. I was almost finished with the entire group of 9 paintings, because I like that number, when I screwed up big time and ruined a painting with overspray. I emoted mightily and threw the painting out the open window and gave the gallery only 8 paintings. Afterward, because I was broke, I retrieved the thrown canvas and decided to sand the paint off and try to reuse it. After sanding way too half-assedly and poking way too many holes through the canvas (I now use wood) I discovered that I very much liked the way the ruined canvas looked. The colors, scratched into and off [one] other, softens their impact and creates a layered effect and allows for colored pencils to have more tooth. I [then] use the sanded ruined layer as the foundation layer for an entirely different painting. I paint an entire abstract all-over [the] piece, sand the crap out of it, and then paint a representational piece over it, using the first sanded layer as the fill-in for the characters and completely losing over half of the original piece. The entire painting process is one accident covering up another. It’s all accidents all the time till it's done. It might seem like a lot of wasted time and paint, and it is, but that's how I do it.

Is there something about your art you want us to know?

My DNA is probably on it somewhere.

What's the one thing you want us to know about you? Can you tell me something about yourself that's not on your website?

I've been doing street art for years all over the world under an assumed "street name” but I can't tell you what it is […]. I always put this "street name" in my paintings, but good luck finding it because I hide it by putting a lot of stuff in my paintings. I’m also mostly Taoist.

Do you have a favorite painting or two I can post, and can you tell me why they are your favorites?

My two recent favorites are pegasus dreams a domestic dream and nice going, buffalo dancer , but I don't want to talk about them because it's too personal.

pegasus dreams a domestic dream
48x24" reclaimed latex house paint, colored pencil and paper collage on birch panel, 2010


nice going, buffalo dancer
48x48" reclaimed latex house paint, colored pencil and paper collage on birch panel, 2010

If you weren't an artist for a living, what do you think you'd be doing right now?
Very likely more smuggling or something equally illegitimate—very very likely. I've also always wanted to see what it's like to have disciples; it's probably pretty neat.
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Posted by: Angela (loftshoppe@gmail.com)

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