When one looks at Travis Louie’s portraits, one feels as if they’re spying on the Ellis Island of another planet. Toad boys and rabbit girls proudly pose in their Sunday best. His subjects may have three eyes, but they also have dignity. It’s a surrealist take on the immigrant experience
Travis’s latest show, Curious Myths, opens at Joshua Liner Gallery on Saturday. In it, viewers can expect the typical Louie knockout cocktail- the uber fine hairs, the sensuously blended grey. His technical virtuosity is so extreme that his paintings were once held at Italian customs by officials who refused to beleive they weren’t done by a 19th century master.
