Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tom Christopher. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tom, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I moved to New York in the 80’s and started working for CBS News on the Crime Beat. Drawing criminals and covering trials for television. These included murderers from daily hit men to famous cases like John Lennons shooter. This lead me into projects like reconstructing the Patty Hearst kidnapping for People magazine. Good project but after seven years of this I moved on.
One day walking around Times Square, the clouds cleared and I had an epiphany of sorts. The City exploded in a blaze of expressionistic colors with the brilliant laser white light sculpting the buildings, cabs, messenger and scurrying figures. At once I realized my mission: try to capture the narrative, the beauty and the magnetic pull of the epicenter of this modern urban city.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am the kid who you might remember from school who sat in the back constantly drawing and not paying any attention. I tried other fields and realized I am only good at one thing; art.
It’s fun to visually interpret a place. I’m lucky and have art shows all over the world from Tokyo, Paris and Germany. A great audience for paintings. International cultures embrace drawing and painting. Opposed to what one sees in museums like installations of a rope, bucket of sand or smashed up car fender. All interesting but most people don’t want it in their homes.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
A collector asked once if I wanted to look at a wall in Puerto Rico. Seemed like a good idea, so we went down to San Juan. The “wall” turned out to be 200 feet long and 16 ft tall. He asked what would you do here? I’ve done murals before but not exactly on this scale. There were construction crews to work with other installers, and the environment of high humidity, salt water and light to figure out. But stuck to the theme and thought of the greats like Thomas Hart Benton and Diego Rivera, Figured I was very lucky to have this opportunity and stuck with it. So I thought thought of the theme of portraying all the workers from welders, banana pickers, bartenders to tour guides.
Spent 18 months think it ended up well. It’s now moving into the International airport San Juan..
On assignment from the NHL I traveled with the Russian Army Hockey Team. These guys did not want a camera stuck in their face. I had a hand in a cast. So after a day or so, one guy asked “How’d you break your hand”. In a fight, I said. So then they all laughed and I was one of the group from then on.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
It’s not some magic act. It’s years of study; Anatomy lessons can run for many years learning how a human body works and how we move. Challenges like a perspective teacher tell us in a timed task “I am throwing a refrigerator off a 31 story building, I want you to draw it looking up from the 16th floor 6 seconds after I toss it .” You have one hour .”
It’s a professional job. And then you try to take all this and make a piece that tells a story and is poetic at the same time. That is the challenge.
Best job in the world from where I sit.
Contact Info:
- Website: tomchristopher@ny
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomchristophernyc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tom.christopher.35574
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9xL1CAb_zOrqIoL71_qgTQ
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/tomcnyc/