Photo by Erin Lyle (@erinm.lyle) shot at Cole's Bar in Chicago

Noah Thomas moved to Chicago from Platteville, Wisconsin in 2018, starting a new chapter that he hoped would include more diversity and inspiration in a major U.S. city. Since then, Thomas’s paintings have been found in galleries all over the city as well as markets or on the walls of the lucky ones who have had the chance to purchase some of his work. 

Thomas got into art at a young age. His older sister was a successful artist herself when they were in school, and his uncle was a professional artist as well. With both of these influences, Thomas was able to see the path of an artist as one full of possibility due to getting to see two important people in his life throw themselves into the fires of their own passions. Inspired with want and hungering for expression, Thomas followed suit and threw himself on the same blaze. 

It started with him being drawn to art for its therapeutic purposes. “I felt like I’d waste energy fixating on things that were challenging or overwhelming instead,” he says as we discuss his artistic career over coffee at Wormhole in Wicker Park, Chicago as a slight chill crisps the air. “...I found that directing this energy toward creating something fun and challenging, like art,  to be more rewarding. I started with drawing animals with graphite and sci-fi characters from Star Wars. With all of that experience, it gave me a great opportunity to say, ‘Hey, look what I can do!’”

While he started with graphite, Thomas has evolved into the worlds of paints as he creates massive scenes orchestrated from nostalgic memories or imagined happenings. Thomas’s work is often centered around a certain scene; like a rolling desert cast in red hues from a setting maroon star which casts shadows, as found in Maroon Landing, or a dense forest which surrounds a humanoid rock giant crouched behind a hill watching the small human curl up next to their dancing orange flame as seen in Stone Sanctuary. As opposed to the other methods of visual arts, Thomas found himself readily being drawn to paints, entranced by the repeated brushstrokes and the situations he could put the colors he mixed and created through. Creating texture with paint, oil, and acrylics also furthered the love for this craft. “Being able to create a texture out of thin air…” Thomas noted wistfully. “There’s just something really satisfying about it.”

Lurking In The Lights by Noah Thomas

Each one of Thomas’s scenes is unique and moves the viewer in a very purposeful way. The abstraction of real life through Thomas’s paintings has a surreal impact on anyone who observes his work, it begs for the viewer to seek out more understanding of the world as a whole. When I look at Maroon Landing and the dancing shades upon it, there is a hedonistic joy and want to move that comes over me. When I look at Stone Sanctuary, there is a longing for a simplistic time, a calming and a nostalgia apparent in both the way the statue looks at the person and the way the person looks at the fire. Thomas’s curation for a scene comes from his interest in movies and dramas, being entranced by the full visual meaning of one frame and capturing the emotions of a moment in it. 

“Thematically, what inspires my work,” Thomas explains, “is nature, and a combination of physical and emotional experiences I might have. Whether it's something I see, or somewhere I’ve been, or even somewhere I want to go—somewhere in my dreams.”

“This is what influenced my current series I’m working on,” he continues. “Being able to walk and experience the satisfaction of stumbling upon something new and the appreciation for somewhere, or someone, or something beautiful.”

Art, in all its forms and mediums, doesn’t exist in a vacuum. For a novelist to start writing a novel, they’d have to read one that inspires them. For a musician to write a song, they’d have to hear one that makes them go, “Wait, I want to do that.” The same is, of course, true for the visual arts as well. One of Thomas’s big influences was Edgar Hopper, specifically his famous work Nighthawks. “I like the openness,” he says. “I like how it almost looks like it could be a [movie] set. I like how it’s very isolated and moody.” Salvador Dali is another one, specifically for surrealism. “I liked his style a lot. I’m not sure I would have liked him as a person,” he says with a laugh. “But I liked his style.” Georgia O’Keefe is another huge influence on him. “I just really am moved by the way she used color,” he says. 

Going With The Flow by Noah Thomas

These three artists have all had a profound impact on Thomas and have motivated him to create the work he does. As he approaches his work, Thomas creates a near optical illusion with his expansive manipulation of color. I have found myself at folly calling his work “bright” before when it is, in truth, much more subdued and moody—yet Thomas’s play with color creates the illusion of brightness. In Maroon Landing, a warmth radiates from the piece. The wind in the scene is hot, yet the colors themselves are all muted. In Stone Sanctuary, it is night in the forest as a stone giant looms, but the viewer is attracted to the bright fire set in front of the small human warming themselves in the forest night. Like the stone giant, our eyes are drawn immediately to the fire, allowing us to then move outward to see the whole scene from that orange glow. This also goes into how Thomas plays with space, and manipulating empty space specifically. There is not a wasted piece of the canvas in one of his works, as every corner is either full of a design or leaving you with intentional longing, the emptiness drawing you in. 

Floral Passing by Noah Thomas

We then discussed how Thomas approaches his pieces. What is the process like for creating these great pieces of art that have appeared in galleries all over the city? Part of this process is very physical for him, as he blends colors together and thinks of the composition of the piece through light, shadow, and texture. Using brushes or his own fingers to mix colors (which allows the oils in his hands to mix them for a different effect), Thomas then approaches the canvas. “[The process] changes pretty often though,” he says. “I never am sticking with one style all the time. You may see some consistency, but I always want to change up the subject matter… Everytime I start a new series, I’m trying to change it up or push the envelope. I can’t sit still! Even when I’m painting I’m like, ‘Okay, I want to run around.’ If I could run and paint, that would be awesome! I never want to stay in one place, and that comes into my work.”

Noah Thomas has also been working on a new series called Wandering Through over the last year.  The series, as he is known to do, combines the physical elements of the world with the emotional, often inspired by things Thomas has seen on his regular walks. “This series is about the walks and the things that make us go ‘Wow,’” he describes. “...It also has an undercurrent of nature taking back its course.” Wondering Through is currently an eight-piece series, with Thomas working on piece number eight at the time of this interview. An art show showcasing the work is planned for early 2026. 

Since Thomas has been entrenched in the art world for a while, I asked him what advice he has for those who may just be starting out. “Invest the time into your work you know it deserves,” he says. “Risk. Fail. Risk again.”