Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Preview: Travis Louie’s “Monsters on Their Day Off” at Roq La Rue

Known for his hyper-realistic — or hyper-unrealistic, whichever you prefer — paintings of monsters, Travis Louie (Hi-Fructose Vol. 5) invents family histories and lineages by twisting our notions of photography as a form of documentation. The artist developed a meticulous painting technique that involves layering transparent acrylic paint over a graphite drawing, creating results with the same dimensionality and sepia-toned palette as antique photographs from the Victorian era. Louie has a solo show coming up at Seattle's Roq La Rue on April 12 titled "Monsters on Their Day Off." Read more after the jump!

Known for his hyper-realistic — or hyper-unrealistic, whichever you prefer — paintings of monsters, Travis Louie (Hi-Fructose Vol. 5) invents family histories and lineages by twisting our notions of photography as a form of documentation. The artist developed a meticulous painting technique that involves layering transparent acrylic paint over a graphite drawing, creating results with the same dimensionality and sepia-toned palette as antique photographs from the Victorian era.

Louie has a solo show coming up at Seattle’s Roq La Rue on April 12 titled “Monsters on Their Day Off.” For this particular series, Louie found inspiration in a collection of photographs of “human oddities” that depict sideshow performers going about their mundane activities. Louie’s new paintings reinterpret this theme, taking us into the daily lives of monsters and giving us insight into the quirks and behaviors we don’t see when they’re not lurking under our beds and the like. Each painting is accompanied by a short story written by the artist himself, demonstrating the full scope of his carefully-thought-out vision. Take a look at our preview of the works in the show below and check out “Monsters on Their Day Off” April 12 – May 4.

Meta
Topics
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
We live in strange times and artists Michael Kerbow and Mike Davis both have something in common: they use surrealism and time travel to address modern and existential issues. Click above to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interviews with painters Mike Davis and Michael Kerbow about their respective solo showings.
Artist and animation director Joe Vaux paints what he likes. His personal work is teeming with impish demons. His cheerful hellscapes are populated with lost souls, sharp toothed monstrosities, and swarms of wrong-doers. And yet, there’s an innocence to all of this. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview with Joe Vaux.
Vibrant and bold, Oscar Joyo’s latest body of work which was exhibited at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, vibrates the retina; while delving into his childhood memories childhood in Malawi and themes of Afrofuturism.
Something interesting happens when when artists like Alan and Carolynda Macdonald, who have the painting fundamentals mastered, decide to subvert expectations and perplex a viewers expectations conceptually. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List