Travis Louie was born in Queens, NY, about a mile from the site of the 1964 World’s Fair. His early childhood was spent drawing and watching “Atomic Age” sci-fi and horror movies. His paintings spawn from tiny drawings and notes in his journals, where he’s created his own imaginary world rooted in Victorian and Edwardian times and influenced by Film Noir and German Expressionist cinematography. A world inhabited by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters, Travis’ subjects appear to have had their formal portraits taken to mark their existence and place in society.
The underlining thread that connects all these characters is the unusual circumstances that shape who they were and how they lived. Some of their origins are a complete mystery while others leave subtle cues: a man is cursed by a goat; a strange, furry being is discovered sleeping in a hedge; an engine driver can’t stop vibrating in his sleep, and so forth. Using inventive techniques of painting with acrylic washes and simple textures on smooth boards, Travis creates portraits from an alternate universe that seemingly may or may not have existed.