Thomas Vigil grew up in a devout Catholic family in northern New Mexico. Attending Mass, however, he was more interested in the paintings and sculpture by local artists than in the sermons delivered from the pulpit.

“My parents were about church and going to church and following the Bible,” he says. “In church, I loved looking at the artwork. We have so many amazing santeros that donated their art to the church, like full stations of the cross. It's something that I benefited from, because I got to go to church and look at these images all the time.”

Among the other artistic influences was graffiti that he saw all over his hometown of Española. Visiting his brother in Los Angeles, however, he saw that graffiti was a much bigger phenomenon. “I’ve always had an eye for graphic arts,” he says. “Graffiti changed the definition of ART for me. I developed an addiction for art in public spaces at a young age. I indulged in my fair share of unlawful expression. It was in the streets that I received an education that I would have never found at any conventional art school.”

Today, when he visits other cities he asks friends, “’What’s a good street to check out?’ and I'll go and I'll explore and take photographs of graffiti. It’s just continued inspiration. That's the art I love.” Today, his own art is a rich combination of his early fascination with iconic religious images painted with intricately-cut stencils on mundane supports like street signs and license plates. The free application of often dripping spray paint from his days as a street artist contrasts with his subtle control of the spray to create his posterized portraits.

In the posterization process, he reduces the full tonal range of an image to fewer tones that result in an abrupt change from one tone to the next. One of his many skills is applying the paint with his stencils and spray cans so that there isn’t an overlap of tones or, worse, a gap between them.

The layers of imagery in works like Know Way, Know Truth, Know Life--street sign, a posterized interpretation of a classic image of Jesus, and freely-sprayed graffiti tags, are inspired by his love for the layered graffiti on the streets. “It's just something that strikes me when you see just random graffiti everywhere. It's beautiful. And then a street artist will come up and throw an image over it, whether it be iconic or otherwise. And that's great. you get this kind of overlay of graffiti on top of this image.”

The transition of street art to the gallery setting isn’t an easy one. Thomas relates that people would be attracted to the bright colors of his work in his booth at Contemporary Hispanic Market. “As a graffiti writer,” he says, “I know how to use contrasting colors and complementary colors. That's what we do to create a striking image that is visible from a far distance.” Sometimes, however, when he would explain to his visitors that the paintings are created with spray paint they would turn around and walk out.

In the early 90s when I was beginning to develop the Re-presenting Representation exhibitions at the Arnot Art Museum, I sought imagery that spanned from nearly abstract to photorealistic and declared that the sculptures, drawings and paintings only needed to portray “stuff you can recognize”. I also sought different ways of using media. It was bad enough that I had chosen to promote contemporary realism which my museum peers thought was even more passé than passé, but I also included images painted with an air brush rather than animal hairs at the end of a stick.

Air brush is simply a more controlled application of paint than spraying from a can and has become more accepted among painting purists. Spraying directly from the can, not so much.

“What I love to see out there in the streets is what I'm trying to incorporate in my fine art,” Thomas explains. “I want to have that authentic street feeling but still be aesthetically pleasing to the general collector. It's a really hard balance. I don't know that I've bridged that gap yet. I think there are some people that are very enthralled by what I'm doing and then other people that are just like, well, ‘That’s messy.’ I know it in my heart that Kathrine and Elan at Evoke have taken a huge chance on me as a young artist especially among their collection of artists. Some of those people are international artists, very, very well known. It's intimidating for me to have my artwork hanging next to theirs. But at the same time, it's motivating.”

Know Way, Know Truth, Know Life bears tags, the stylized monograms of graffiti writers. Thomas explains, “I repeat a lot of the tags in my backgrounds. I use “shake”, my former graffiti name, the words ‘peace’ and ‘2maro’ (as in tomorrow). These symbolize a hope for a better tomorrow.”

When I told him that I first read in my mind, “No Way….” He explained that the title has several interpretations, among them his hope that those with no way, no truth and no life will come to know them.

He has done a series of paintings of Lost Prophets that Evoke exhibited last year.

“This is the most in depth meaning that I've tried to put into any of my work. It was circulated around an issue that had been eating at me for years. I've lost several friends and family members to drug addiction and suicide and other mental health issues. When fentanyl hit Española we didn't know what was going to happen the next time the phone rang. Many of my friends was just falling victim to this and it was something that was bothering me quite a bit. Just like the homeless crisis in Española. People were more irritated about the fact that they had to deal with this crisis than having sympathy towards the people that were going through it. These people were my friends and family members, so I was sympathetic because when I see people, I see people. Everybody's a person, and I guarantee everybody in this world has made bad choices. Maybe some of them worse than others. That doesn't dictate who they are.”

One of the paintings in Lost Prophets (which references the iconic saints and prophets in many of his paintings) is Mad Max, painted, prophetically, on a speed limit sign. Thomas wrote the following to accompany the painting:

When I met Max he was talking to himself and singing songs. As I approached him he was very inviting, asking me to sit down, offering me a cigarette, and even some tortillas. Max has the type of face that can change from completely happy and full of life to completely lost in a moment. Max is 27 and says he's lived on the streets most of his life. He lived with his brother a few years back in Santa Fe, but was kicked out after a physical altercation that left his brother hospitalized. I asked him if he had any other family. His mom lives in California, but he hasn't seen her since he was an adolescent. He left home in his teens to pursue "girls, music, and drugs:' He left home for the music and girls, but stayed for the drugs. Max is addicted to Methamphetamines and "blues" (blues referring to an illegally manufactured pill form of Fentanyl flooding the Española Valley.)….

Despite his situation, Max is hopeful. He doesn't feel like his life is over. He believes he can find a job and a home. I asked him if he could go back, what he would do differently. He answers quickly with a smirk. "I wouldn't do anything different. You have to accept who you are in life:” His smile grows. "I'm single, wild, and free. I accept who I am!"

Thomas is married with two children and has a full-time job at Los Alamos National Labs where he manages a nuclear waste facility. “I am very, very structured at work. I am very much about rules and regulations and I'm strict about it. I want that facility to be safe and compliant and everybody to do as they're told all the time. It’s necessary because what we do is important and dangerous, not just for the workers but for the environment and the public.”

Then there is the 38-year-old rebel and the rule breaker who transcends the preconceptions about street art to create colorful, complex and meaningful works of fine art.

Prominent on his arm, among other religious tattoos is Exodus 3:14. “This is one of the most relatable scriptures that I could think of from the Bible,” he relates. “Moses asked God, ‘Who do I tell people you are?’ and God answered, “I am who I am.” I’ve always felt that way. I'm unapologetically me.”

View work by Thomas Vigil   ►