Travis Louie is the master of developing odd little characters who convey quirky personalities. His illustrated figures boast antlers and fangs and strangely shaped heads, and he pairs each unique portrait with a creative story in order to provide a bit of background about each imaginative character.
To achieve the dramatic, old-fashioned feel to his illustrations, Louie creates monochromatic images with acrylic paints over graphite drawings on smooth illustration board or wood panels. He merges supernatural, alien features with human qualities to create the unique beings of his own imaginary world, a world that he says is “inhabited by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters who appear to have had their formal portraits taken to mark their existence and place in society.”
In September, Louie will exhibit these playful portraits at Stranger Factory in New Mexico, alongside the work of Jean Labourdette a.k.a. Turf One. The show, entitled Tiny Theater of the Absurd, will run from September 6-29, 2013, and will showcase all of the curiously odd creations that have been dreamed up by these two talented artists.
