Stephen Michael Haas

Sprung From the Tongue is Stephen Michael Haas's effort to revise our understanding of an art exhibit. His aim is to transform a traditional, silent, white-walled affair into a much louder theatrical attraction. Haas utilizes larger than life sculptures,...

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Looking in the mirror, 

   my eyes don’t shine. 

         It wasn’t all that long ago that they’d glimmer

maybe reality is just checking me

        I left my heart at the door

                 for some reason my shadow is my only obstacle 

and it scares me shitless.

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Im many things.. right?

I am everything I have ever dreamt of yet something completely original.

I think thats the ultimate hope for all of us. That we will surpass our “dream” self and become an amalgamation of everything that we think is beautiful.

That definition may very by the way, because everybody see’s a different shade of beauty.. Shit thats beautiful

Thats hot, fuckN sexy.

A thirst for love and a thirst for life.

I want to be quenched.

I want to pour my heart out into everyones mouth, and I want everyone to taste it and taste their own heart, and think about what there own personal beautiful looks like.

When they figure out what it is I hope they say damn, and I hope they mean it.

Next time you swim up your biggest hopes and dreams stream open your mouth so you can taste gratification. So you can taste true happiness, enjoy.

You know because life is beautiful.. And it don’t have to have a price tag to be profound.

Shit, Im self conscious because I didn’t say anything about a price earlier in the poem. 

but fuck it, its beautiful. 

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   I was recently approached by this up and coming zine to take over their second issue! So I used this opportunity to explore some new photoshop techniques. I must say this cover was quit the learning experience.. It is neither a payed gig nor is it a huge magazine, but the P.I.L is giving me room to do whatever I want, So I figured why not go crazy! Stay tuned to see the whole book, I get to layout the whole thing!

   I am a littler curious about how my normal demographic will respond this cover, I guess we will wait and see.

Stay PUMPED YALL, Steve

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If I could love you as I wanted, I would hold you tighter then anybody has ever held you

I would get closer than anybody has ever gotten, so deep that I would enter your every pour and pour and pour my every ounce as deep as I could possibly reach.

If I could love you as I wanted, I would love you so passionately that you would question the very definition of intimacy. I would show you what closeness means, what openness means. I would show you that Im not a death sentence

I would peel back your layers and liberate you so you could breath freer than you ever have and you the same for me. I would see it that you would sore. We would see to at that aren't one another's purpose for life, More just confidante's.

I would hold you just right, I would let you peacefully recline into me in a way you never have, I would allow you to truly trust me when I say the phrase "You can trust me" an believe me you can,

I would love you so madly that I would use up every ounce of both of us. and together we could sprout into a tree, and be the peaceful silence that we have dreamt to see. I would learn to touch you the right ways, hear you the right ways and ultimately be a person you trust that you can trust.

But I cannot love you the way I want to. I have to love you on your terms, and your terms mean that my love is seldom and distanced. It will be however you want it to be. I don't need to set the rules, I do not have to see you, I just have to trust that you trust me trusting you. 

Maybe you will see this, but if you don't it doesn't bother me. I care for you however you need me to care. I do not care how it looks.

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So ladies and gents it is about time for my big show! SPRUNG FROM THE TONGUE! I wanna just say that this is the most ambitious thing I have ever done! It has been a pretty grueling experience for me at times but for the most part it has been the push I need.. It keeps my head outta the gutter and keeps me making more than I ever knew I could.. I'm not one to boast much but this event is seriously something you don't want to miss! It is everything I want it to be and then some! if you are looking for a crazy and honest experience please show you face at The MakeSpace this friday!

Thanks to all of my helping hands! it has made this show a brief heaven!

Jordan GrimesDanny McCoyDan DelaneyXander MoppinBen Krawl, Joshua David Anwyll and the many more of you!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1438817793044672/1453767294883055/?comment_id=1456196531306798&notif_t=event_mall_comment

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Cool Interview

Paul Edward Gibson: Sprung From The Tongue, what does that mean to you?

Stephen Michael Haas: The name Sprung From The Tongue comes from the idea of word vomit. which I said and somebody said the term has already been used. It comes from word vomit. I was thinking our feelings are throw up we spew out from our mouths or in our heads. Some weird stuff comes out. Lots of times our most honest things come out. So I figured my art show is about saying those things, verbalizing them, re­visualizing them, and saying what people are afraid to say. So Sprung From The Tongue is essentially saying those things without a filter.

PG: The whole without a filter thing, I feel like your art is very personal, confessional almost.

You hear people talk about how a song's lyrics feel like they have been torn from a journal.

SMH Yeah, well I realize that my language is something that everyone else is already experiencing. So I like to make my art as universal as possible so anybody can look at it and read it and be like “I've been there,” even if its not the exact same thing, they've experienced and felt those emotions before. So if I put this stuff on a conceptual lens where everybody can feel the art work and relate to it, then all of a sudden people are that much more into it, you know? It's more about evoking emotions within somebody's self. They are not necessarily my own emotions.

PG: Can you tell me about your inspirations in art?

SMH You mean conceptually or actual references?

PG: Either.

SMH Everyone has things they derive their influence from, but I draw specifically from life as opposed to from an artist. I like to feel the emotion of a given situation and I take that in, into a big memory bank of emotions that I've felt and I push them out through my artwork. So I feel like I'm just interpreting the world rather than drawing from a specific artist. Specific experiences I've had inform me more than anything else. That being said, Wayne White I really appreciate and Keith Harring, and many others like Cezanne, Giacometti, Egon Schiele, and Henri Mattise ­ things with a lot of movement and passion. I'm not super focused on imitating any particular style even though I take from a smattering of everything. Like I said earlier, I like to speak in a universal language. I see making as language. Really, what I'm inspired by is language and communication tools. I'm not really that good at verbal languages, but I like communication through words and through symbols. All the things I paint are symbols. I like to simplify everything to the simplest form so people can read it really easily. I don't want there to be any guessing. I want it to be snap and people will feel it, and I think that's how cave paintings were and folk stories were. I want my art to be a continuation of that because that is all art really is to me: storytelling. Solid?

PG Solid.

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Isn't it about time I did a illustration I am proud of?

"This month Stephen will open a show called "Sprung form the Tongue," an ambitious. multimedia celebration that aims to bring voice and theater to art. Stephen's art is just another reason to feel positive about Harrisburg."

-Lawrence Binda

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I keep my distance because I think you need it

I am afraid

I want you so much that I cannot even remember how the lust of it all feels.

Smitten, delighted by your very presence.

Here, I take your hand as gently as you would like me to hold It.

I know you are afraid of my affections so I will be soft or barely at all.

but you will heal, trust. IN. ME.

when you do I will be there to hold you.

I take your hand as gently as you would like me to hold it

I know you fear intimacy and I promise I would never smother you.

trust that I can help you heal.

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So this year is coming to a close and I think it is time to express gratitude and talk a lot about things that are important to me.

I am sure many of you have been seeing a lot of the stuff I have been putting out. It is all the product of a year long Artist in residency I was fortunate enough to take part in. The whole thing has left me with a lot of room to learn. See I have had time to fail, time to do commissions, time to work under my Heroes and most importantly time to realize what making artwork means to me.  Around August I was utterly exhausted on making things and so I had to collect my thoughts. I was thinking that being an artist meant making things full time and being payed for them. That was a big misconception as I am sure you know. So I realized that making art (for me) isn't about how people receive it, it is about how you yourself feel when you make art. So I realized the best I had ever felt is when I didn't care at all about how the stuff was supposed to be received.. At that same time I realized that I had never made one concise body of work. So I set out to kill two birds with one stone (Im a savage I know). I would find said Joy through making my own body of work and so it all began. As all of the stuff kept progressing I started getting more and more ambitious and what was going to be a small show turned into a 5 month project, It would bookend my residency perfectly...A one year study on myself as an artist, I couldn't ask for a better life lesson. So anyway at that same time I had been starting to near the completion of an album I have been working on for the better part of four years.. And all of this magical stuff just seems to be lining up right with the closing of 2014. So now I am starting to see both the art show and the album as the closing of my first big chapter of life. I am 23 years old now and I believe that both the art show and album will say everything I have to say on life thus far.

In closing I wanted to let you all know that both the art show and the album are nearing completion.. The album will wrap up tracking in early january and the art show will happen on january 16th. I am trying hard to make it easy to keep track of everything (expect a website soon) enough of my ranting! thank you all for your endless love and support! I cannot express how thankful I am.

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I like how she never takes pictures of herself 

and how she walks with an utter sure-ness that everything will work

When my words cower she reels me in and forces me to be straight

she makes me question whether I am trying hard enough

she calls me out for over thinking and tells me to take a breath.

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Paintings

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   Why do we spend so much time trying to quote someone else? Why do we spend so much time reposting other peoples images.. Don't you know that if you spent even half the time making things that you spend surfing webs and re blogging arty pictures you would come up with something really fucking beautiful.. even if you think this is bullshit it's not.. I see so many people brimming with raw talent and then I see so many people with raw talent letting it go untouched. Don't you know that if you embraced your raw talent you could do some beautiful things? You should also know that when someone shoots you down for trying something new they may just be a cynic so tell them to fuck off, they don't deserve to deprive you of anything that you rightfully deserve.

   Why do you spent so much time trying to atone for your past? Why do you spend so much times trying to hide your flaws? You want everything to be ok, but you want it now so instead of doing work to fix your problems you bury them with a smile.. and I bury mine with a smile or an outlandish dance.. why is that ok, and why am I bombarded by so much cynicism each and everyday? Why is it that I am seen as a fool for pursuing what I love full heartedly?  Why should I worry about your questions toward me if you question's are clearly aimed to break my stride? 

  Why not take a little time out of your day to honor yourself, to love yourself. take some time from your suffering and treat yourself. make beautiful things,  scream like you want to, say "fuck" as you need to.. do anything you feel I swear anything you say will be ok.. just be as real as you possibly can and see what comes from it.. you might be surprised by what you have found...  oh and also, try to post something other than a reblog or a selfie.

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can I tell you how much it means to me that you tolerate me? 

that you would go toe to toe to stand up for any word I'dd say

how you would sacrifice your self in the name of (corney) love for me.

and I never use words like "toe to toe" but I say it because its the truth

and it's the sort of conviction, that sort of commitment that we don't see 

enough of in this world.. its commitment and conviction that make this 

world. and to seldomly do you come eye to eye with people that have

enough courage to stand in their own power.. its that type of honesty we

need in this world.. its not a bank roll, its not a trophy, or a person you 

as claim as property,, its nothing you can fucking have, nothing you can 

hold onto... its your fucking courage, and to often do I seen people

cowering away because they are afraid that they will wilt when some

of their sour spots come out.. How is it that we consistently bask in our

darkness just so we don't have to face the daylight? we revel in our fear

when there is a true opportunity for happiness.. and the thing is

is we had a shot at happiness we wouldnt know what to do with it.

we would burn it just so we could continue to deprive of self of... tell me 

why would you deprive yourself of something you know would provide you with better life

why would you continue to live in a relationship that rips you limb from limb when there is someone across form you that will nurture you..

its fear and its love, and its all the things we should and shouldnt do.. its the difference between one of the few brave human beings and the many terrified ones.. tell me that you don't deserve happiness, tell me one more time that you have to hold out for something better, for someone better.. tell that you will in fact jump at the opportunity next time around.

are you brave? or are you just gonna drown in your sorrow like the rest of em.

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Heres a new mural Im working on yall! Just wrapped up day one! this one is a little bit different than what I am used to doing! But it is so much fun

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Read it up.