Travis Black is an artist living and working in Downtown Albuquerque with his wife and twin children. He is mostly known for his Chirp series consisting of 392 bird paintings, each exploring the emergent novelty of the moment and our relationship to nature.
Travis Black began the study of art in 2001 in Michigan. He moved from Michigan to attend the University of New Mexico after which he opened Bright Rain Gallery with his wife Molly. In 2011 he became a full-time artist. His work is collected internationally and can be found in the offices of top big tech companies and Public Works. His designs are also printed on dresses with couture Indian fashion company Gauri and Nainika and is present on sets of film and Television. He and his wife Molly have 3-year-old twins and study Zen with Sensei Thomas Zenho Whalen with the No Gate Sangha.
Artist Statement
As a student of Zen I try to live out the truth of “everything is connected.” My primary aim is to create art that brings joy, optimism and mystery to people’s lives. I want for my art to express my lust for life and the simple exuberance of being.
I try to flesh out the spectrum between abstraction and realism to illustrate how layered reality is and to tease out a more inclusive picture of what “real” feels like. Color is Emotion. Implied movement is Time. Design is balanced in a way that shows the vulnerability or unlikeliness of our experience.
An overarching theme for my work is how complex creatures are and how every living thing is a little package of God-knows-what-mystery. This moves me to paint.
