Patrick Hasson lives and creates art at his Rainbowland Studio–Gallery in Joshua Tree, California. A former filmmaker from Los Angeles, Hasson moved to the hi-desert ten years ago to take a chance as an artist, stumbled into the world of Airbnb, and created several rainbow-colored Airbnbs. The world-famous Rainbow House was recently featured on HGTV’s Zillow Gone Wild show hosted by 30 Rock alum Jack McBrayer, and on The Design Network”s Alt Home Show. Joshua Tree Voice Magazine recently awarded him 2024″s Best Two-Dimensional Artist.
An Interview with Artist Patrick Hasson
What is Your Favorite Color and Why?
Purple is my favorite color. I like it because it is a cooler and calmer shade than the reds and oranges of the world. I also dig the connections to the color . . . Prince”s Purple Rain. The Jacaranda trees blooming with purple flowers in Los Angeles in the spring (who knew there were purple trees!!). Deep Purple. Amethyst. Orchids. Lavender. I just love it.
How do you choose your colors — are they planned, or instinctual?
Very much instinctual. Whether I’m painting a room or working on a painting, I’ll sit there for a while, staring at a blank wall or an outline on a canvas . . . and I just let my mind wander. Then, a color will come to me and I’ll go with it. I can overthink things to death (which I did for years when writing screenplays), so I really try to keep it simple when it comes to color. My basic palette are the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) and black. That’s it. 7 choices. So when a color comes over me, I just go with it and don’t look back.
What emotions or ideas are you trying to express through color alone?
Again, I try to keep it simple. There is a psychology to colors and I believe certain colors can have a particular effect on your psyche and mood. Blue, green, and purple . . . the cooler colors of the color wheel will bring a sense of calming. Orange, red, and yellow . . . warmer colors . . . bring more energy, happiness, and optimism. Especially when it comes to painting a room a particular color. For example, I tend to paint my kitchens yellow because it’s a morning color . . . an awaking . . . the start of the day. I’ll paint my bedroom purple because it’s a calming color to me . . . totally puts me at ease . . . plus, it’s an imaginative color, and a lot of my ideas will come at night when lying in bed. I’ll usually paint my living room/tv room blue, because it’s a total chill color . . . cool and calming and brings us into the night. Bathrooms, I like to paint green because it signifies health and tranquility. But again, most of the time, it’s a mood or a feeling that I’m trying to convey with color, more than an idea.
How has your use of color changed over time, and why?
I have always been a fan of color, but really didn’t start injecting it into my life and art until I got sober in 2014. Prior to that, I was living in a lot of darkness due to my alcoholism and drug addictions. Even the apartments I lived in for years, I would rarely paint the walls a different color. But then I got sober, and it was like I had awakened from a slumber. Every white wall I saw I wanted to paint a color . . . and not some lame pastel shade. I wanted pure, saturated colors, the deeper the better. It really started after buying an old drug house in Joshua Tree. I was newly sober and I would drive out (from LA where I was living) on the weekends, looking at its dirty white walls. Walls with holes in them. The shit brown color on the outside. I couldn’t stand it. It depressed me and left me thinking “What the hell have I done?” Why had I bought this dirty ol’ shack? The desert was so brown. And then one day I was staring out a window at a stop sign. I noticed how brilliant and rich that red was, especially against the brown desert background. The color was so rich, I wanted to eat it, but instead I ended up painting the entire room that cherry red color. Then, I noticed a little yellow wildflower popping out of the ground . . . such an intense and beautiful color. So I rushed over to Home Depot to find that color yellow and then painted the kitchen wildflower yellow. Painting these two rooms had such a transformative effect on the house. I knew immediately that each room needed to be painted a color, so I thought of the color wheel. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue, so I knew the living room needed to be painted the richest, most saturated blue I could find. I did it. Then I thought of the secondary colors . . . orange, green, and purple. I painted the two bedrooms and bathroom and suddenly my $73,000 desert drug house had been transformed into a beautiful piece of art. All the colors of the rainbow. But again, I hated white, so I started painting all the trim black, which accented the colors, really making them pop. From this, I’ve never looked back. I use these 6 colors of the rainbow and black in everything I do. Whether it’s painting a house, working on a portrait, or creating a piece of Vicious Color clothing. Of course, I’m always trying to get even more saturation in my colors, so lately I’ve added more neon shades of these 6 colors into my work. I can never get enough color or saturation. I’m an addict, so I always want more, more, more!
How do you keep your color choices feeling true to your vision?
Again, I keep it simple. I use the six colors of the rainbow and black. I rarely ever stray from this, but I’m always exploring different color combinations within my rainbow parameters.
Can you tell us how color influenced Rainbowland’s concept and story?
Well, kind of a long story. It all started with that first house I bought in Joshua Tree. After painting each room a different color of the color wheel, I put it on Airbnb as “Rancho El Reposo,” calling it a “livable art retreat.” I had no idea what to expect or if people would rent a multi-colored house. Well, they did, and a lot.
I was a bit shocked at what a positive reception it was getting. It quickly became one of the most popular Airbnbs in Joshua Tree, and locals around town started referring to it as “That Rainbow House.” And from there, it was a simple evolution. I’m an addict, so I always want more. I always want to outdo what I’ve done in the past. I want more color. More saturation. More rainbow! Because of the success of Rancho El Reposo, I was able to purchase a second property just off Highway 62 (in Joshua Tree) that would become “Rancho De Colores.” I stuck to the same pattern for the interiors–each room a different color of the rainbow–but on the outside, I had to take it up a notch. I painted the exterior purple and red. I splattered rainbow colors across both patios a la Jackson Pollock. But I felt I needed to go farther. Looking at the roof, I thought to myself “wonder if you can paint a roof?” So I climbed up there and found out (you can, but it’s a massive pain in the ass). I painted purple and red stripes across the roof and people noticed. Random people pulled into my driveway and asked “what the hell is this place?” I would reply, “It’s going to be an Airbnb,” and they would respond, “Hey, are you that rainbow guy?” “Yes, I am that rainbow guy.”
Rancho De Colores quickly turned into a bigger success than Rancho El Reposo, but because the house was on a 3 acre lot, I felt I needed to keep pushing it. Someone gave me an old piano, so I splattered it with rainbow paint, and put it into the backyard. I had an old dead tree on the property, so I painted it rainbow colors and replanted it. Someone asked if I wanted an old car, and I said “Hell yeah,” splashing it with rainbow paint and rolling it into the backyard. I bought an old 5th wheel and went rainbow crazy on it–painted the curtains, the blinds, and even painted the ugly linoleum floor, turning into a rainbow mosaic. It became my third Airbnb, called the “Color Trip Trailer.”
A few years later, the pandemic hit and I was living in Rancho El Reposo, losing my mind as it felt the world was coming to an end. Then, a thought popped into my head. You should go FULL rainbow on this house. Not some rainbow, not more rainbow, but full rainbow. Every inch of the house should be turned into a rainbow-infused work of art.
Now, I had no idea it would take me two years to complete “The Rainbow House,” but that was what it took. I painted the ceilings. The cabinets. The garage. The fences. Every single inch of the property was rainbow-infused, outdoing all the previous livable art retreats. A few years later, I moved into Rancho De Colores and retired (after 9 years) from the airbnb business to focus all my time and energy on my art. Now, doing the Airbnb thing all these years, I was never really able to open my livable art retreats to the community (of Joshua Tree). But now that I am retired, I wanted to share my art with the public and have an interactive art space. Rancho De Colores needed an upgrade and I needed to outdo myself (once again). What’s more rainbow than a rainbow house? RAINBOW-LAND. And that’s how we came to this present moment in time, on the verge of opening Rainbowland, a roadside attraction, an art park, an art gallery, a homebase-store to Vicious Color Clothing, an art retreat, and event space.
And how do you go further? You install a 9 foot metal rainbow in the front of the property! Very excited to open Rainbowland to the public this fall!
