Travis Louie

About

Travis Louie is an American pop surrealist and lowbrow artist born on August 23, 1964, in Queens, New York, to Chinese parents. As a child, he was fascinated by science fiction movies, haunted houses, ghost stories, and animals. He graduated with a BFA in Communication Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1990 and initially worked as a freelance illustrator throughout the 1990s before transitioning to fine art painting around 2003. Louie's artistic practice is deeply influenced by his experiences as an Asian American subjected to racism and bullying during the 1970s, as well as his childhood observations of vintage family photographs in his friends' homes—a contrast to the lack of documented history in his own Chinese-American family. This personal history informs his creation of an imaginary world populated by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters. His work addresses themes of identity, remembrance, xenophobia, and the immigrant experience through meticulously crafted portraits that reference Victorian and Edwardian photographic traditions. Louie's paintings originate from small drawings and writings in his journals, which he translates onto larger surfaces using acrylic paint over tight graphite drawings. His visual style is influenced by German Expressionism and Film Noir cinema. He relocated from Queens and Chinatown to the Hudson Valley in the late 1990s, seeking isolation for creative contemplation, while continuing to teach at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in collections across the United States and Europe.

Pop Surrealism / Lowbrow Art; influenced by German Expressionism and Film Noir cinema; Victorian and Edwardian aesthetic