The High Street Gallery will host an exhibition of recent paintings and drawings by Travis Walthall, 8-11 p.m., May 6. The gallery is located in Victoria House, 2110 Victoria St. in Beaumont.
“I am very excited to present sets of drawings and paintings from the previous year,” Southeast Texas artist Travis Walthall said. “The works involve a variety of themes from identity, life/death relationships, conceptual artwork to even more traditional, still life approach. Portraiture has been a primary focus for me the past year and I hope to display a variety of my portraiture work along independent pieces.”
Entry is free and the work will be for sale. Refreshments will be available at the event.
“My childhood was lined with sketchbooks, covering animation characters to religious imagery,”Walthall said. “I began taking private lessons in middle school, with Mr. Roy Bares as my artistic guru and life mentor.
“As a student at Lamar University, I have the pleasure to study artwork under the phenomenal minds in the Lamar Art Department faculty; specifically, my advisor Christopher Troutman and Donna Meeks, the chair of the art department and painting instructor.”
Walthall plans to graduate with a BFA in the fall and then pursue a Master’s degree in painting.
“I love communicating about the workforce of art and all of its technicalities,” he said.
Some of Walthall’s artistic influences include Alex Grey, Salvador Dali and Marcel Duchamp.
“I respect traditional practices, such as academic modeling and atmospheric perspective, as shown by the masters such as Leonardo Da Vince and Renoir, but I am in love with the concept of artwork which goes beyond the physical understanding to make the illusion happen or bring fantastical ideas to visual life,” he said.
“The imagery I use is surreal and liquefied; and I’ve developed this alternative route to comment on the uncertainty of essence and ambiguity of nature that is commonly taken for granted or overlooked.”
The exhibition is titled “Mused” and the opening reception will feature live atmospheric music by Echoed Sycamore.
Travis Walthall
“The sensational, multi faceted creative process is a master component in order to making my work honest, for it is a communication between something abstract and captivating, with the mark coming from my hand — some call it style,” he said. “It never ends up exactly as predicted and it would be absurd to think so.”
For more information, email victoriahousetx@gmail. com, or visit the High Street Gallery Facebook page.
More of Walthall’s artwork can be found at www.Arts MindfulMedium.com.