The Controlled "Art Attack" Of Emerging Artist Travis King

By Joan Baum

"Westhampton Beach House" by Travis King.

Travis King's "Juxtapose", a semi-abstract acrylic design of a torso in yoga pose, part of the Artist Alliance of East Hampton's "Serenity" exhibit at East Hampton Town Hall, hardly prepares a viewer for what is on fuller display at the Travis King Studio in Springs. It was the best-selling novelist Richard ("Lush Life") Price who noted recently that 'making it' is the point at which the hyphens disappear. So for Travis King, "Local, Licensed, and Insured" interior designer-home renovator-cabinet maker-fine artist, the last designation is the one to watch these days.

Long a fixture on the East Hampton scene, C.E. King & Sons (canvas awnings and marine boat covers), in operation for the last 60 years, co-exists with Travis King Studio - it's all in the family - where the owner concentrates on "cabinetry, built-ins and home renovation." Although King has a degree in furniture design from the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia, he always loved to paint and sculpt, and the current exhibit clearly shows the common denominators in all his work: a passion for detail, a rigorous geometric design sense, a witty, even defiant, sense of not wanting to be boxed in – even by his own Mondrian-like paintings, and humor. The 18 "Art Attack" pieces on display – oil and acrylic paintings on canvas and board, conte, charcoal, and ink dot drawings, mixed paper collage - are listed on a checklist as "His Majesty's Art Collection: Travis King." Innovation reigns and includes furniture and sculpture pieces set around the large shop that also shows off King's imaginative talent.

"Juxtapose" by Travis King.

Although King's day job continues to be custom designing (concept, creation, installation) for private and commercial clients in the Hamptons and Manhattan, his quirky Springs studio integrates his various artistic lives. There is a wood column section left over from a client that is clapped onto a wall, a small steel sculpture of a surfer rests on the floor near a lean-to of surfboards, a sleek box-design cabinet unit in white with bold black and red interiors sits across from an object d'art rough-wood, three-legged chair. The chair was constructed from a single piece of drift wood King and his partner, Ann Carmody, found on Gerard Drive, a testimony to their support of going green. You'll also notice that works in oil and acrylic and ink dots are propped up near a mahogany Sail Chair ("really comfortable," Ann offers) designed with Dacron sail cloth and grommet rigging on the back.

The show is arranged not by chronology, subject matter, genre or style but with an eye to encourage appreciation of King's diversity. "Art Attack" is King's first solo show and the first time the studio is exhibiting fine art. Not all the pieces, especially those not formally noted in the show, may remain where they are, but visitors are unlikely to miss them. There's an early surrealist "Tool Box," with drill watercolor, a figure standing in a socket, and an expressionist rendering in oil of a photo King took of his daughter's face, featuring an extended Popsicle blue tongue. Scattered throughout the room are also a couple of unusual wood sculptures - an elongated man with hoop earrings, a carved tree branch, and a wooden wheel device used to count and mark the catch of the day - all evidence of King's playful minimalism, but it is the acrylic and oil abstracts that most exemplify King's intricate design sense of interlocking forms and color.

"Dollparts," a colorful acrylic on board configuration of free-form geometric shapes, amazingly seems to recompose itself into four or five differently conjoined torsos, depending on point of view. This, and "Manhattan," a conte drawing in brown, black, white and gray that subtly jig-saw shapes into an eye-catching composition set in a rough wood frame (check out the almost-hidden head and small figure), shows King's sure hand in integrating line, form and color. Nothing wasted and nothing arbitrary. Careful delineation and resolution of perspective are particularly apparent as well in King's homage to Ayn Rand, in drawings called "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged."

"Oorlog" by Travis King.

The ink-dots on paper ("Self-Portrait: Artist with Hair", "a Muse." "Tupac." "Westhampton Beach." and "Acabonac Harbor") all executed from photos, show King's ability to get down likenesses, as well as his determination not to be typecast: dot technique, from picture to picture, varies in size, spacing and hue.

Visitors picking up on the Easter Saturday opening debut will not be surprised at seeing several iconic pieces, including "Madonna, Like a Virgin," a collage made from scraps of different kinds, colors and textures of paper, a not untypical composition that only seems symmetrical. Similarly, "Doublecross." oil and marker on board, features a sly off-centering box design in black, red, white and spray-gun gray. Arguably, the most representative and effective of King's newer pieces are the Dutch-inspired modernist, linear, punningly allusive graphic designs with lettering – "Oorlog", "Ausgang: Rear Entry", and "Amsterdam" where less is more - and, on closer inspection, even more.

• "Art Attack" can be seen by appointment at the Travis King Studio located at 11 Washington Avenue, East Hampton, www.traviskingstudio.com, contact them via email at ann@traviskingstudio.com.

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Joan Baum lives in Springs and covers literature and the arts for print and radio.