Peer Interview with Travis Johnson

This is an interview with Travis Johnson who is currently pursuing a B.F.A. with a concentration in printmaking. 

Danielle: Can I ask, what kind of materials do you work with in your medium?

Travis: To tell you the truth I use a lot of found materials, paints that I find etc. 

He spoke about how he painted a friend's basement with one large mural that varied in subject matter but was very interesting and colorful. He explained that everything he used was a found material. It consisted of things he had found that were already in the house. I thought this was interesting because it references the readymade. The way he works is also limiting to himself as an artist because he is forced to make art with limited resources but has the ability to adapt. I think he said that the mural he made took him 2 months to construct and cost him only a dollar and change. I was amazed.  

While looking at his sketchbooks, I felt privileged because I felt like I was able to see an aspect of his inner artist that I feel like a lot of people might not have the opportunity to experience. The sketchbook contained a number of drawings as well as text, which was interesting. The pictures were of numerous subjects such as people and animals as well as designs. My favorite sketch was of a tree. It filled the page and was oriented vertically. Segments of it were covered by Post-its which, when uncovered revealed a blank page. When I asked about his thought process on this sketch, he told me that he was on Douglass campus and saw fragments of a tree that had been chopped down. This sketch was meant to represent the tree as he saw it in pieces. I thought it was extremely interesting and thought that it was very strong conceptually. This was when I saw that he had a very interesting thought process and would see more interesting works to come. The text that was included in the book, for the most part, did not correspond with the drawings. The text served more of a documentation process, which may be useful in his work. 

D: Do you have any specific interests that you'd like to pursue? Possibly a certain interest towards the environment? (This came from things I had seen in his sketch book) 

T: Not really. I wish I did. I always wish I had taken strong interest in anything, have a cause, like a cause you're willing to die for…something you're really passionate about. I haven't found them. I've tried them. I've tried the environmental thing, tried to support the war in Iraq (support the troops). I've tried a lot of angles but my heart just isn't in it. So, I've been rolling around in life taking pictures and writing notes about things that make me think…I really have an aversion to electronics. I use my laptop and listen to music all the time, but I wish I didn't. It's like everyone is hooked into texting and ignoring everything that is going on around them. So I really would love to do things that would distract them from that

D: Like something more organic?

T: Not really. I like looking at things that make me turn my head sideways and think "hmm." I'd like to be able to make other people do the same thing, to make them think for a moment, even if its completely stupid. Like drawing a smiley face upside down or something. It makes you think for a second. 

D: Maybe you could look at something like how technology affects nature. Like thinking about how we take things in nature for granted because we have technology.

T: Yeah, the other day I walked onto the bus and saw that everyone was wearing headphones, sitting alone totally disconnected from one another. I just want people to realize and turn their heads sideways and see that other people are doing the same. It want to get people talking. 

D: I think that would definitely be something to go for when you think about thesis. Have you had any ideas for it?

T: No, not yet. I feel like I have to involve printmaking somehow so I figure I'll make a mural and include a bunch of prints in the middle of it; have it be a mixed media mural. Then I would like to create some sort of environment in a corner. Like have sound playing and have you walk into the environment so you're no longer in a gallery but are surrounded by something else. 

D: Did you want to separate the two? Have the mural and the environment not be in the same room?

T: No, no. I'd like to create an environment so it would be about everything you see, everything you hear. Usually when you're standing in a gallery everything is sterile and white. 

After this statement, I suggested that he could incorporate the ceiling and floor in working towards creating an environment in the gallery. He generally like the idea and thought it was interesting because it is not something that one would normally see. 

We looked at another sketch book. The questions begin with asking about the content of that book. 

D: I feel like this is a lot like your other book. Is this one any different?

T: They're similar. I bring this where I go. These are my thoughts and what I see. This is what I use when I don't have a camera. ill draw something out that i see. it keeps me out of trouble. A lot of things I do are mainly just recording things that happen around me. There are nonsensical things that come from dreams. What I like about drawing is that you can use whatever is lying around

D: (In reference to a drawing) What is this?

T: These all started turned into a printmaking final I did called Possibles, Not Probables. Where there were a couple sentences long of stories of things that could happen, but probably would not happen. 

D: Did you use pictures in these prints? 

T: Not for all of them. 

D: Do you work a lot with text? Because I feel like you have a lot of text in here. 

T: This is also a book that I took to Europe. Since I didn't have a camera so I used this to write out dialogue…I just tried to write everything down. 

D: How do you feel about illustration?

T: I don't know. I mean, if you look through here the styles aren't consistent. 

D: So do you have any kind of influences at all like any artists that wow you or make you want to do work like them?

T: Absolutely. There this guy named David Cho. I'v meet him on several occasions. I admire artists who use what they have to create. 

I enjoyed looking at Travis's work. I, unfortunately was not able to go to his studio because he doesn't have one but I think his sketch books definitely took the place of that. He did at one point try to have a silkscreen lab in his basement but was unable to maintain it. To me, Travis doesn't appear to be an artist that necessarily needs to be in a studio to create work. It seems like he works by experience, which is evident in  his sketchbooks and his trip to Europe. I really think that works for him because I believe he discovers his creativity through walking around rather than keeping himself to a confined space. I think it makes his artistic process unique and interesting. As for his style, I feel like he is still trying to develop what makes him an artistic individual. He appears to have different interests in different mediums such as both painting and printmaking. He's also interesting in silk screening. He uses a great deal of lines in his work which is very interesting. The subject matter, although it is not too uniform, carries whimsical, dream-like characteristics (some of the figures being fictional or totally made up). It is apparent that he does not work photo realistically, but more like graphics.

  I am looking forward to seeing what he comes up with for thesis.