Travess Smalley has come a long way since childhood, from growing up envisioning and drawing skate parks to now establishing himself as a vital part of today’s contemporary art community. Smalley bends realities with a wide array of mediums, and he does it well. His drawings, collages, and installations share unpredictable shapes, vibrant color palettes, in a cohesive fusion of both handmade and digital elements.
Read on to find out what Smalley’s approach to creating art is, and what we can expect from his wild imagination next.
Hi Travess, how are you and what are you up to today?
Hey Brian. I’m fine. It’s fall. The windows are open and the breeze is flowing through the plants on the sill.
When and how did you start creating contemporary art?
I’ve always loved to draw. Growing up, I designed lots of skate parks. These drawings were meticulous. I’d fill up every inch of the ruled paper with wonky grind rails, quarter pipe wedges, spine ramps, full loops and fun boxes. I remember drawing my favorite video game characters too Sonic, Blanka, and Cool Spot. And making a beautiful Killer Whale diorama out of a cereal box. I drew the whale, a scuba diver, and all these unreal aquatic plants that made up this cereal scuba world. In many ways I was thinking of this diorama when I drew an aquarium in college. When I was a kid I realized that drawing a thing can be just as satisfying as actually having the thing itself.
Can you describe your creative process? How does a piece usually start and when do you know that it is finished?
CONSTANT. I am always in the middle of things. Like right now on my desktop I have three different drawing/print compositions opened, a javascript that I am experimenting with, and a new animation that I’m working on in After Effects. For the last few weeks I’ve been keeping one or two textedit files open as well for poetry. short word forms. I’ve been experimenting with artist statement as a form of writing and an artwork in itself. Lately, a lot of my projects have started from emails I have written myself with ideas for projects. Then I have to find the right tool to make it. Then I make it, flip it, flop it, scan it, print it, plop it and look for the right version. The one I am most happy with, the finished thing, is hardly ever the first version and rarely the last either.
What is your favorite medium to work with and why?
I want to say something cool like a squiggle writer or a rare airbrush but in all actuality its Photoshop. I’ve been using it for 12 years now. In many ways its the quickest way for me to get across an idea but it can also be incredibly limiting in terms of what the final physical product is (usually some sort of print). This limitation has created some interesting hiccups in my studio practice though. I’ve often found myself approaching a painting or a drawing thinking of the canvas in terms of layers and selection tools.
I think and hope that everyone has a different read on my artwork. Ideally though, I’d love for my work to change how people see their reality.
Color plays a huge part of your work, can you describe your choice of such vibrant color palettes?
I always thought it came out of my use of the computer and the RGB colors that you can only make digitally. Neon green colors like: #00ff00, colors that need to be lit from behind in order to be seen. That has to be one of the better things about working digitally. My palette can keep changing as I work on something. The hue selector specifically… and also (cmd+option+control+8).
What are the main themes behind your artwork? What impression do you want viewers to take from them?
I think and hope that everyone has a different read on my artwork. Ideally though, I’d love for my work to change how people see their reality.
Every single piece of yours is completely different from the other, you have a lot of variation throughout your work. Is it a conscious decision of yours to have such a diverse body of artwork?
I’m not purposefully trying to make things that look radically different. I think of it more like phases of exploration and experimentation. Like learning how to use a new paintbrush ends up creating a different kind of work than when I’m learning how to transfer prints onto a sculpture. I imagine some of my sensibilities transfer still.
Can you tell us about your new book Capture Physical Presence? How did you create these collages and what was the inspiration behind them?
Yes. Capture Physical Presence is my first book! I’m very excited about it. The book design was done by the great Berlin based designers Rasmus Svensson and Hanna Terese. It is a series of collages that I made this summer in my studio. Like most everything I make they just started out as tests. Compositional sketches made from print-outs and construction paper. I made the first set of eight for Rasmus and Hanna’s online exhibition platform pwrshare.info . In my studio though I just kept making them, day after day. By the end of the summer I realized I had an amazing collection of collages that I wanted to share. I am really excited for people to have this. The book is beautifully printed and the form/binding/feel is based on one of my favorite books, Enzo Mari’s “autoprogettazione?” I feel lucky to have found a printing company that could meet all my specific requirements. Please Pre-Order a copy! They are shipping soon.
