Meet Thomas W Schaller

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Like many children, all I really liked to do was paint and draw. I loved everything about it. But it took me much of a lifetime to realize why. I grew up in rural Ohio and spent countless hours dreaming of all the exotic people and places I feared I would never see. And so I drew them. My sketchbook was a visual diary of not only what I saw around me, but of what I felt, and what I imagined the world could be.

In time I moved to New York City, became an architect, a visualizer, illustrator, and designer of the to-be-built environment, But over the years, I grew dissatisfied with painting the visions of others and longed to paint my own.

And so a few years back, I left my old life behind, moved to California and began to re-invent myself as a fine artist. It has been the most difficult – and most satisfying – thing that I have ever done.

Please tell us about your art.
Although much of my work can at first seem representational, I do my very best not to paint the reality of what it is I am looking at. Rather I try to paint the reality of what it is I “see” – how I feel about whatever it is I may observe- both inside and outside my field of vision.  By that I mean that it is the artist’s job not to strictly illustrate the world in which they live, but to interpret it.

It has often been said that Mother Nature is the best teacher. I would say that while she is a great teacher, she is not the only one. Memory, dreams, and pure invention can be just as powerful in what they have to offer the artist.

My work is a study in contrasts. In all my paintings, I attempt to establish dialogues between opposite forces; warm vs. cool tones, light vs. dark, horizontal vs. vertical, the man-made vs. the natural world, the past vs. the present and the future, the “real” vs. the imagined, etc. It is in the conflict, and the resolution – or lack thereof – of these opposing forces on the easel in front of me where all the questions of my art are asked, and all the stories it may have to tell are found.

Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
I teach all over the world and am often asked in my groups and in interviews what advice I may have for young artists. Consistently, I say “Listen to all of it, but never take any advice too seriously. Inside, you know what it is that you are meant to do. You already have all you need to make it happen”.

Of course, more established artists may have words of wisdom that can be of value. Of course, we should all study and learn from the work of masters down through the ages. But I believe the most valuable thing we can do as artists is to listen to – and develop -our own unique voice. We all want to do well and to succeed on our own terms. And the only way to do this is to develop an artistic voice that is as personal and authentic as possible. Never paint how you think you are “supposed” to. Paint what and how only you feel you should.