Erica LoPresti - Blog Assignment #2

The second I walked into the gallery, and saw Travis Townsend’s, works I was amazed. I stood still as my eyes wandered from one piece to the next. There were big wooden contraptions displayed on the floor, which caught my attention immediately. Every creation is different in its own way, but, at the same time, they flow into each other. They are all made of wood, some with acrylic paint, and some with charcoal, but the entire collection was the same color scheme. Some of the bigger pieces were displayed on large light blue blocks. Others, were either panels on the wall, or, displayed on the floor without a light blue block. A few of the creations on the blocks or on the floor were actually attached to the wall to continue the creation. The works aren’t just alike by color and materials, but they are also a central theme. They all have tanks, dead little birdies, miniature chairs, and more, incorporated into one another.

The piece that caught my eye the most was, “Gathering/Blocked Cloud,” a small piece right on the floor where you walk in. This creation is made of charcoal and wood. The charcoal is a drawing on the wall in an interesting design of bricks with a dead little birdie standing on top. There is a small, wooden, delicate ladder leading to the birdie with cute, miniature chairs (also made of wood) surrounding the base of the ladder. Some of the chairs have light blue paint on one side, and some have none. The ladder has specs of paint on it and is somewhat crooked. I love this piece because it was the only small piece in the collection, and drew my attention immediately. It also really makes me use my imagination. It is so tiny, cute, and dainty that it makes me want to be miniature and live in it.

Travis Townsend explains how his works start out as small doodles of tanks, dead little birdies, and designs for contraptions. It is clearly noticeable that they find their way into his wall drawings and paintings, and the contraptions are actually created. Townsend explains how his process is labor intensive, and how he layers paint, saws the wood into smaller parts, scrapes it, reorganizes it, then repaints it. Most of Townsend’s work is choppy, layered, and glued, which fits hand in hand with the process of making it. He also explains how he tries to make each painting evolve a different way. This is also visible through his creations because many are similar, but have qualities that make them different from each other. For example, some of them might me layered differently, or birdies and tanks may be placed in different positions. Overall, Travis Townsend’s artist statement clearly explains his artwork; it visually communicates what he tells us it is about.