The Art of Paying Attention with Artist Thomas Christopher Haag
For Thomas Christopher Haag, art is less about creating polished answers and more about staying open to mystery. His paintings emerge through intuition, meditation, emotion, and long stretches of quiet contemplation, often revealing their meaning only after the work is finished. What begins as instinct slowly becomes reflection.
Part artist, part wanderer, part philosopher, Thomas has spent decades building a creative life rooted in curiosity and experimentation. He likens his creative process to meditation or prayer. The work is personal, abstract, and deeply tied to consciousness, memory, and the internal systems that make up his emotional landscape.
After years of traveling, hitchhiking, and moving between cities, Thomas eventually found his creative home in Albuquerque. Surrounded by a fiercely supportive art community and the magnetic pull of the desert landscape, Thomas has built a life centered around making things, asking questions, and following whatever ideas refuse to leave him alone.
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Following the Strange Path
Long before art became his profession, Thomas carried sketchbooks everywhere. Drawing was simply part of life, something he returned to while moving through what he describes as “a lot of weird, random jobs,” including commercial diving and work in the film industry.
Born in Wichita, Kansas, he spent years searching for work that felt connected to the deeper questions already shaping much of his life. Meditation, consciousness studies, and spiritual exploration became lasting influences long before he fully committed to painting. “What really got me into art is consciousness studies,” he says. “I’ve been a meditator for 30 years.”
He briefly studied chemistry and math in college before dropping out and drifting through years of travel, creative exploration, and movement between cities. Murals and artwork slowly followed him across places like Oakland, Oaxaca, Bangkok, Barcelona, and New Orleans, what started as a private creative practice gradually becoming something much larger.
A year spent traveling through India eventually became a turning point. Watching people devote themselves completely to spiritual practice helped clarify something for him. Art itself could become the structure around which he built his life.
“I decided to really commit myself [to art]. Thankfully, I stuck with it, and it’s been wonderful.”
The Art of Observing
Thomas rarely begins a piece with a fixed idea. Instead, the work develops slowly through emotion, intuition, and observation. He spends time sitting with blank canvases, letting thoughts and feelings surface naturally before making the first move.
“I kind of just empty myself out. Mystery is part of it. I don’t always need to understand what’s happening right away. I sit with it afterward and think, what is this trying to tell me?”
The process feels less like executing a plan and more like uncovering something hidden beneath the surface. Often, he does not fully understand what a painting is about until after it is complete. His paintings move through abstraction, symbolism, and recurring personal glyphs that feel emotional rather than literal. Many are tied to meditative states, memories, or experiences that resist direct explanation. By making the work first and reflecting later, the paintings become records of emotional and psychological states that might otherwise remain inaccessible.
“It’s always surprising. I still finish pieces and think, wow, I can do this.”
Even after decades of painting, he still speaks about the process with curiosity and disbelief. There is very little ego in the way he describes his work. Instead, there is trust, experimentation, and a willingness to let uncertainty remain part of the process.
Albuquerque's Artistic Influence
For Thomas, his studio is not separate from Albuquerque’s creative life. It is part of it. A place shaped by people, materials, and the slow rhythm of making work over time. His studio sits inside a longtime Albuquerque art space owned by his friend Steven Madsen, a building that has held decades of artists and creative energy. Thomas describes it simply, like a space that feels more like play than work. “When I was a kid, I built forts and tree houses all the time. It feels like that. I get to do what I want with it and put up the most random things that are weird and meaningful to me.”
Much of his work is shaped by whatever materials are available to him. He often builds his palette from donated or leftover paint, so the colors shift with place, timing, and community. What might come from a garage, a neighbor, or a leftover bucket of house paint ends up becoming part of a larger visual language shaped through reuse and proximity. In New Mexico, that often means earth tones drawn from the landscape itself.
“I really like the idea of using what’s available. In the Southwest, it becomes more earthy. Brick reds, sky blues, ochers.”
That connection to place carries into his public work as well, including a recent Route 66 mural at the El Rey Theater, created alongside artist Jesse Littlebird as part of the Route 66 Centennial “Route 66 Remixed” project. The project reflected the collaborative spirit he finds throughout Albuquerque’s art community, where artists and neighbors often show up for one another in small but meaningful ways.
Before they began painting, the artists held a blessing ceremony for the wall. During the process, people from the community stopped by with food, encouragement, and conversation. To Thomas, that sense of support is a defining part of the city. He describes Albuquerque’s creative community as deeply collaborative, where people share space, ideas, and encouragement rather than working in isolation. The city does not just host art, it participates in it.
“You have to be willing to give the majority of your time to your art.”
Making A Life Around Art
When Thomas gives advice to younger artists, he rarely starts with technique. He talks about lifestyle, patience, and making space for creativity. For him, art requires time, flexibility, and a willingness to live simply enough that the work can stay at the center.
“Get really good at simplifying your life and be willing to give the majority of your time to your art. If you’re willing to make room for art, the rest starts to follow.”
He is honest about the unpredictability that comes with it. Stability is never guaranteed, and success is rarely linear, but the commitment holds if you stay open to the process.
Even now, after decades of painting and exhibitions, Thomas still approaches his work with curiosity. That openness extends beyond the studio, where he is also focusing on his health while continuing to work and stay connected to his creative practice and community, supported by friends, collectors, and the Albuquerque art scene. Creativity has never been separate from life itself, and for Thomas, the work is less about arriving somewhere; it is about continuing to pay attention.
Support and experience Thomas’ work! Find upcoming events and exhibitions on ABQToDo.
Acknowledgments
Art Every Day Of The Week
When you start to look, you’ll see art everywhere in Albuquerque. Use this calendar to find an arts and culture event near you. Take a friend, bring your kids, or go on your own. Become a part of the arts and culture community in Albuquerque. You’ll be glad you did.
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