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Operating from his base in Rama, Travis
Shilling inherited a strong aesthetic legacy from his
father, Arthur, a painter whose figurative works are still
recognizable for their singularly bold use of form and
colour.
The artistic environment Arthur Shilling
provided his son has proven to be a source of unending
creativity for Travis. “This was probably my first art
school,” he says of the studio his father built and in which
he himself now paints, noting that it was when he found his
father’s oil paints that he switched from the acrylics he
had been using. He saw it as a sign, “It was him, kind of
leaving it open for me.”
The family compound is Travis’s true home, a
place where he can immerse himself in painting and reconnect
regularly with his brother and other artist friends.
“I just like this space,” he says of his
still uninsulated studio. “It’s tough sometimes, in the
middle of winter, but the space inspires me.”
Although he spent brief periods of time at
both the Toronto and Dundas Valley schools of art, Travis is
basically self-taught and he has been showing his work
professionally since he was 18. His portraits and landscapes
are deep studies that reflect his connection to, and
compassion for, his sitters, plumbing surface and yet
transcending it at the same time.
As for his painting practice, Travis has an
immediacy of application that is reminiscent of his father’s
style. As a seasoned painter, he says he is “motivated by
different things” than he was when he was younger and
experimenting more.
“Now,” he says, “I’m reacting to myself.” |
