Travis Louie is so talented it hurts
Anyone can be an artist; to be called a craftsman means you're really good at it. Travis Louie "uses acrylic paints over tight graphite drawings on smooth grounds, like 'plate' finish illustration board or finely sanded, primed wood panels." It's amazing that such delicate surfaces can be produced with acrylic paint. Mr. Louie has a show opening at Roq La Rue gallery in Seattle.
Morley Hedge at Seventy-Five, Travis Louie. Be sure to visit the gallery preview to read the stories about these characters. (An artist after my own heart!)
These remind me of Mark Mothersbaugh's Beautiful Mutants.
Piscatorial: Tina, Truman
The Piscatorial series was originally inspired by the movie Dear Frankie (which deserves your love). Frankie is a young man who enjoys, among other things, drawing pictures of marine life. In the film Frankie's bedroom is decorated with his wonderfully whimsical and detailed sea creature drawings. Have you ever noticed how adult artists put a lot of energy into the attempt to recapture their childlike freedom of visual creation?
Tina, mixed media on MDF, 2007 Tina's pleased to meetcha!
Truman, mixed media on found wood, 2007
These fish were created using collaged paper, wallpaper, acrylic, and ink. Tina's MDF panel was one of many cut from a larger piece that I chose not to keep. I highly recommend reusing materials from unsuccessful works.
Piscatorial: Lucius, Luigi
The names just come to me while I'm working.
Lucius, mixed media on masonite, 2007
Luigi, mixed media on MDF, 2007
These fish were created using collaged paper, acrylic, and ink.
Piscatorial: Buster, Frances, Hal
Piscatorial: of or pertaining to pictures of fish.Thanks to BibliOdyssey for providing the source material for these and many other works.
Buster, mixed media on found wood, 2007.
Frances, mixed media on MDF, 2007
Hal, mixed media on MDF, 2007
These fish were made with materials including canvas, paper, wallpaper, acrylic, and ink.
Normal, OK: Signs
Philli I. Acrylic on found plywood, 2007
Oklahomans, myself included, spend a lot of time on the road. Route 66 is an integral part of our heritage. Arterial interstates whisk us from state to state. Along the road, an archaeology of advertisement emerges: billboards with missing panels, hand-painted text, and panels rearranged so the ads become illegible. Advertising is supposed to be shiny and bright; signs that are old, awkward, or broken are uniquely endearing.
Los Tres. Mixed media sketch, 2007.
Using copious reference photos taken along Interstate 40, I create mixed-media paintings, allowing the forms and typography to become increasingly abstract. Objects like gas meters, dilapidated sheds, silos, water towers, and corrugated steel warehouses punctuate the sharp horizon. Institutional greens and rusty whitewash clash with the blue expanse of sky. These lonely inhabitants of the landscape creep into my abstract compositions, taking on their own identities. Character follows form follows function.
