Get to Know Travis Gire

Travis, your art is stunning. Can you tell us a little bit about where you come from and how it’s found it’s way into your work?

I grew up in Chula Vista, which is South San Diego, just above the Tijuana border. Most of the drawings I did as a kid were heavily influenced by early Disney films. Then the great graffiti boom of ’92 hit and I, along with every other teenage dude I knew, got hit with the bug. So I ended up with a style somewhere between Disney and graffiti, I’d say. By now it’s unshakeable, I’ve found. Even when I think I’ve done a painting that’s not in my usual style, people tell me it looks very ‘graffiti’ to them. So, oh well. The formative years made their deep imprint on my consciousness.

Vinyl seems to be a pretty big part of what you do. What are your top 5 favorite records in your collection?

I don’t think I really could ever decide. I’m a moody-ass person and so different records work at different times. You never really can put your finger on what’s going to rock your world when you go to play something – there are so many different variables shaping the experience. But the albums I always return to, year after year… uh, the first Pink Floyd with Syd on the axe, first King Crimson album, Mozzer’s “Viva Hate,” first Wu Tang, “De La Soul is Dead,” Lou Reed “Transformer,” Jam “All Mod Cons,” Wendy Carlos “Sonic Seasons”…. Yea, all of those albums have endured countless listens and I still get something new out of them each successive time we rendezvous.

Burritos or Pizza (you can tell a lot about a person by this question)?

Mutherfuckin’ burritos, homie! When i’m seriously in a hunger bind, loading up on pizza ain’t gonna do it, unless I don’t mind slipping into to a trudging food coma afterwards. I’ll power up with a burrito and I’m good to go for most of the day. However, I’m pretty picky about my burritos, so I can’t just go to any shit-stained taqueria up here in SF and be satisfied, like a lot of these suckers. At this point in time, you’ll only ever find me at El Menudo in the Excelsior, or El Farolito on 24th (one near BART) where they get it right and leave the lettuce, grey horse meat, liquified guacamole, and rubber tortillas heated up on a clamp outta the picture! The burritos coming outta my own kitchen are pretty good, too. Making beans from scratch is key.

You live in SF. Can you describe the art scene there?

I really couldn’t tell you, man! I’ve lived in SF since 2002, but outside of a handful of times where i was dragged to an art show, my only real insight is on FecalFace, though I rarely look at it anymore these days. I don’t have many artist friends, so I basically never go to art openings, since they can be incredibly awkward for me if I don’t know anyone there. I might emerge from my log cabin in the woods on occassion, but the bright neon from those fancy geometric/bird paintings and the trak bikes parked outside, scares me off before I even make it inside to the Pabst cooler! I think ’round 2013 I might mosey back down the Excelsior mountainside and check out what all these youngsters are up to, eh.

What is a typical day like for you?

Wake up, fry some eggs, try out a record that I feel I’ve been neglecting while I take in my news and coffee, maybe walk Zelda the dog. Then after that it’s City College, then work at a liquor store till late. I don’t have much free time these days, so I try to draw and read when I’m at work, in between ringing up people’s sixers and fielding inane comments about the weather.

Tell us about some of the crazy characters in your work.

My interaction with customers are brief, thank Jah, so usually I don’t get in too deep with them, unless I choose to delve. There’s the swisher ‘n’ hennessy fiends who are dipped head-to-toe in giants gear and are too gangsta to say ‘thanks’ or even look at you. There’s the construction dudes who who buy the same lager beer every day, and god forbid if you’re out of their brand. Then there’s the craft beer connoisseurs who like to ask you, with a twinkle in their eye, if you’ve tried this, that, or another beer, with almost missionary-like zeal. All in all, most people that come into the store are cool and I have running dialogues with many a’different folk. People really like to chew the fat with the guy at the corner store, I don’t know what it is.

If there was a tsunami that washed away the west coast and you could escape it with 5 of your things, what would they be?

I’d grab my boogie board and wait to get tubed! Anything else would just fuck up my ride.

Who are some of your favorite artists?

Jim Phillips, Twist, James Blagden, Stan Lee, Robert Williams, the French Surrealists. I’m a bit thick when it comes to art history, in general. I wish I had a longer list.

You’ve told me previously that you used to do graffiti. Are you still writing?

Naw, daw. My cans have been defunct since 1997. I do use aerosol on some of my paintings, as background color, but as far as going out and bombing, that’s a closed chapter of history for me. ‘Round ’97, when I moved to the dorms at UC Santa Cruz, I started bombing my favorite bands’ names all over the campus, like on green electrical boxes. If i ever got inspired to go out again, I could see myself doing that, as opposed to writing some dumb alias that means nothing to anyone but me. I think it’d be funny to see something like “BUDDY HOLLY!,” or “HAWKWIND!” written huge on a random wall somewhere in the city. That’d get me psyched, and I imagine other people, too! Modern day graf’, just like contemporary hip hop, at large, is a crippled life form – a pale resemblance of its former self. Some youngsters need to breath some new life into it, take it in a fresh direction that draws from the past while also looking into the future. I shake my head in embarrassment at the majority of chicken scratch I see ’round here in the city. Doesn’t seem like they even try, shit is so sloppy. It’s always been an issue, enforcing standards, with something as anarchic as graf’.

Do you have any formal training in art?

Not really. In high school, my teacher showed me what was up with acrylic paints, and I did my first canvas in that class, some uninspired rip-off of an integrity album cover, ’round ’97. But after that, I didn’t touch a paint brush until after I had become established in SF, sometime in 2004. I think it had finally set in that I should be moving myself beyond the sharpie realm, and fucking with larger formats, utilizing color, as well. Prior to this I had some arcane idea that fine art was an exclusive zone for intellectuals with a solid understanding of art history, and the stuff I was drawn to was relegated to just t-shirts, murals, and skateboard graphics. However, the current art scene didn’t strike me as stuffy, in the way I had imagined it would be. So I was encouraged by this to make my own paintings, allowing some of the random, fucked up ideas in my head to materialize into provocative imagery. It took me a second to actually take myself seriously, to be honest.

Jesus or Satan?

Whoever wants to kick it, I’m down. Just as long as they bring their own beer.

Tell us a little bit about your process.

All throughout the day, I try to stay receptive to my thought process and the way things strike me, no matter how tangled or murky. I make a point to stop and jot down the more intriguing ideas, even if I don’t fully understand their various implications. From there, I make a sketch, and if the idea is interesting enough to me a week down the line, I’ll turn it into a painting, either on canvas or plexi-glass. Sometimes I lazily just draw whatever’s around me, like a picture on a record sleeve, and I inevitably distort and change it to suit my needs. Sometimes you make up a painting as you go, but I am typically more satisfied with the paintings that originated from a bizarre idea that came to me outta nowhere, and the process of painting is an attempt to articulate the full scope of its impression.

Travis, you’re a pretty wise guy. Can you drop a few words of wisdom on us before you leave us?

Minimize your possessions, don’t waste too much time looking for personal satisfaction on the internet, always have a book you’re reading, learn how to cook basic shit, and lay low on the hard alcohol front.

Visit Travis’ site for more info.