Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Habs.
I grew up on the south side of Chicago, and always loved art, but it was never really a practical passion to pursue as a career. Regardless, certain members of my family noticed early on and kept encouraging me to always keep it a part of my life. My grandfather James O’Malley was an Irish immigrant, and for as long as I can remember would always save the Sunday comics for me.
No matter how many weeks passed as I grew up, he would always save all of them for me, knowing I would dive into them for hours on end. Then he noticed which strips I really liked and would make sure I got the books so that I didn’t miss any of the comics. He recognized the passion really early on, and much later, I’m realizing he was building depth of the appreciation of an art form into me.
Way later on in college, I took an art elective with a priest who showed me how to take an idea and use only abstraction to communicate it. He persistently challenged my mock-ups until I said I couldn’t change it anymore because it would compromise the idea. That’s when he said, “Okay, now it’s done.” This idea really stuck with me afterwards, and after moving to Montreal for a while, I always kept painting and sketching ideas in my free time. The concept of using abstraction to translate an idea has come to shape my whole approach to my artwork.
Living in Montreal really introduced me to street art and I loved how it removed the ‘exclusivity’ surrounding a lot of fine art. It made it fun for everyone who came across it. When I moved to California, I decided to keep practicing and since I had more space was able to keep trying new methods. Now, five years later, I’m thankful to have work archived in a museum, three featured exhibitions, work with many galleries in the area, and even had pieces shown on NBC’s “Will & Grace” and ABC’s “For The People.”
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. I don’t think any achievements come easy. I was adamant from the day I started doing this that if I perused it, that it would be exactly what I wanted without compromise.
This took twenty times more work, it took twenty times as much of my own money, and it took years and years of learning, making mistakes, and perseverance. Even if it didn’t work, I would have been fine knowing that I spent that time challenging myself. Doing something like this is not for the faint of heart, and that’s something you realize very early on. If it comes easy, I think that becomes increasingly transparent over time, and people may have difficulty relating to it.
The struggles continue and have changed dramatically as the work has gotten more exposure. One newer one is with the popularity of social media platforms like Instagram the incentive to create high volumes of work that panders to what people want to hear has exploded. If people want to do that, that’s fine, but I just know that’s not me. Quality will always come before quantity to me. Ideas and concepts are at the forefront of my work, and I know the road will be rocky, but as long as I’m honest with myself, work hard, and have fun I will continue to do my own thing.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
Sure – overall I’m a painter/artist based in the Los Angeles area. My work explores how various techniques and approaches can abstractly transcribe lyrical and conceptual aspects of punk rock music. The videos on my website tell the story much better than I can. My most recent solo show “(gas)Lit” was on display at Gabba Gallery in September, and was again shown at The Other Art Fair LA in October. It is a new conceptual body of work based on the ideas of fantasy, death, and luxury in our current culture. It has been pretty crazy to be doing these events now from where I started, but I’m excited to keep exploring new ideas and keep going.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Hard work and patience are very important. I also think it’s critical to notice others that have a similar passion and to help them whenever you can.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mikehabs.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mike_habs
- Other: https://www.gabbagallery.com/mike-habs-gaslit/
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