It ’ s clear to anyone that Chapman is a very technically talented painter . He renders scenes in a stunning clarity at odds with their comical themes . I also ended up speaking with Holly Swanson , the owner of Spokane Gallery which has been showing his work for several years . “ When I first saw Travis ’ s work , and he was young , I knew he had a real talent with the brush . We sold several of his realism pieces through the gallery .” She remembers being thrilled when he branched out into what would become his current style . “ We sold “ Menthol Mona Lisa ” right away . I ’ m really glad to see that he ’ s taken a talent for realism and put it into such unique artwork .”
Travis ’ s pieces are often very detailed . They are layers deep with visual interest and extra pieces to tell a story and give viewers something to chew on beyond the initial joke or concept . “ After I paint it for an hour or two , that gives me more ideas that I can put in the background or add another little layer if I think of something . If I have any space I ’ m always cramming in as much as I can .” It ’ s taken a lot of practice for him to hone this skill , adding an interesting enough amount of detail while maintaining the original composition and feel of the piece . “ It sometimes ruins it ; there ’ s no negative space , but it ’ s just more to look at . It makes you look at it longer and think .” The painstaking detail adds its own character to the paintings . They take the superficial joke of the painting and turn it into a story . They take something from a phone screen or magazine page and tell the reader to slow down , absorb the story , and spend more time with the piece of art .
Given the nature of his paintings , Travis tries to compose them in a certain way . He has to balance the satirical nature of the piece with the technical mastery that makes his art sell , all while being immediately eye-catching and recognizable to the viewer . “ That ’ s the hard part . I mean , composition is hard if you aren ’ t trying to make a story or a joke , so I try my best but sometimes I need something hitting you in the face at the beginning . If you ’ re scrolling , they will just scroll past it if they don ’ t at least go ‘ what ’ s this ?’ Even if it was a nicer composition , they might just keep going past it because they don ’ t care .” It takes a lot to get recognized in today ’ s art world , especially on the digital landscape so Travis ’ s priority is to make his viewers simply stop and look by putting something recognizable as the focal point of the painting . “ It ’ s really about making people stop for a second and look at it instead of just passing it by . Some people are just scrolling , and they ’ ll scroll right past the painting even if it took you six hours , they don ’ t care .”
16 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE