RAVIS CHAPMAN IS WELL KNOWN IN THE NORTHWEST FOR HIS IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZABLE SATIRICAL PAINTINGS . HE LOVES TO TAKE FUN AND FAMILIAR THEMES FROM POP CULTURE AND TURN THEM INTO SKILLFULLY DETAILED ACRYLIC PAINTINGS . HIS WORK TWISTS SAYINGS AND IMAGERY THAT WE HEAR IN PASSING OR IN OUR SCROLLING , INTO SOMETHING MEANT TO BE APPRECIATED ON A DEEPER LEVEL .
By Melody Fyre
Travis has his own kind of wry humor and humility regarding his work . “ The opposite of a stupid pun is someone that took it too seriously . So , it ’ s kind of funny just knowing that someone spent a whole bunch of time doing it .” Inspiration for these paintings is often unexpected . “ Sometimes I ’ ll just hear a phrase and I ’ ll think oh that could be weird or funny , and just take it very literally . I ’ ll do that a lot and just think ‘ what ’ s the literal example ?’” He also draws a lot of his inspiration from current events and movies , both new and classic . Part of what draws viewers to his work is the organic feel of his sense of humor . The painting may be a play on something many of us know , but there ’ s something unique and authentic about Chapman ’ s brand of humor . He spent a portion of our interview wryly poking fun at himself and his style , but he paints the way that he does because he loves it and in an industry that often takes itself too seriously , it ’ s very refreshing . “ I ’ ll show my wife and my daughter and that ’ s usually a good guess ; if they both like it then that ’ s a good starting point . Sometimes you ’ ll get so deep in a thing , there ’ s a phrase that ’ s just like , a hat on a hat , where there are just too many jokes or it ’ s too deep down the wormhole that nobody will get it except me .”
March | April 2022 15