A hallway full of vintage cameras
Following a professional career in martial arts (and several broken bones), Tom Callos is pursuing a quieter calling in relief print making. This form of print making requires carving into linoleum, vinyl, and wood surfaces, inking that surface, and pressing paper to it to produce a printed image.
“I like paper. Paper attracts me.”
“I like people.”
Portraiture gave him the opportunity to work with people, research the lives of interesting people and recreate them. With a background in performing martial arts — with comedy — around the world, in tv and movies, Tom was facing a leg fracture following two hip replacements from jiu-jitsu training. He began using his printmaking and art making tools while struggling with the stillness of recovery. He set out to complete one thousand portraits. In martial arts completing one thousand reps of an exercise gives one proper entry-not mastery-into understanding a skill.
A collection of paintings and a photograph of Tom with some of his former students
“Repetition is the mother of skill,” Tom says and his students usually completed this thought aloud as he said it. He has found there is a transformational power in practice.
“I get up in the morning to do the chores everybody else does, but I’m thinking about making something.”
“You bow in and you react or initiate your work. That occupying your mental space with thinking about art is the sweet spot.”
Childhood interests in reading biographies, particularly about scientists, combined with collecting stained beakers and other metal parts catalyzed his portrait obsession and the practice of slow looking. Now he enjoys reading biographies about other artists as well, people who have shared something remarkable and are examples of accomplishment. He has recently added a series on people of Boise, focusing on local folks with extraordinary qualities to help give back to his supportive artistic community.
He enjoys adding movement, line and mood not apparent in photographic portraits. His study of people and their faces comes out in his prints. Exploring and experimenting with color is his latest challenge.
As in martial arts and performance, he seeks a balance between the formal qualities and informal expression.
"When I think about making art that transcends the ordinary, just keep practicing."
He believes in the pursuit of making art to achieve the skillset he is after.
A collection of prints, the bottom row is from Tom’s “People of Boise” series.
Posted on his instagram profile:
“I have found a sort of spiritual practice in making art. It's a fine way to buffer the political disappointments, the estrangements, the angst of wars, the struggles of the times—and to embrace things beautiful, noteworthy, and uplifting. Looking back a bit, to chart the way forward — with just the appropriate amount of anticipation. Oh, and what a pleasure it is to listen to the art of Roger Waters.”
Website: www.tomcallos.com