Whence One Comes: The Musings of Travis Louie

May 27 - August 26, 2017

South Two Gallery

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To confront the oddly familiar yet strange characters by Travis Louie (American, b. 1964) is to walk into a world of curiosities, monsters, and the absurd. His paintings are culminations of many influences:  Victorian portraiture, Film Noir movies, and human oddities as Vaudeville magic acts, circus sideshows, and the monsters and superheroes of Horror and Sci-Fi movies.

Louie’s creative process is one of realistically rendered graphite drawings on a smooth ground that are washed with layers of acrylic paint. The characters of his paintings begin as notebook sketches and journal entries which may be developed into a drawing and ultimately painted. Narrative in approach, each image is accompanied by its own story written by Louie.

Louie is a first-generation Chinese-American who grew up in Queens, New York. He received his BFA in Communication Design from the Pratt Institute. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions primarily on the East and West Coasts. Louie lives in upstate New York and is represented by William Baczek Fine Art, Northampton.

The Butterfly Krampus Narrative

Miss Nancy Narrative

 

Images:

 

(Left) Travis Louie (American, b 1964), Butterfly Krampus, 2014, acrylic on board, 14 x 11 inches, courtesy of William Baczek Fine Arts

(Right) Travis Louie (American, b 1964), Miss Nancy, 2014, acrylic on board, 20 x 16 inches, courtesy of William Baczek Fine Arts

 

Funded in part by UW Art Museum Gala Funds.