Travis D. Hendrix
My work represents a search for meaning in the Semiotic Blanks.
Through the use of psychogeography, I map my way through the world combining my lived experiences with my inner interpretations of them, to discover myself within a middle ground, defined as the Penumbra.
Using the ‘paranoiac-critical method’ as pioneered by the Surrealists, I allow imagery to emerge from the substrate on a subconscious level. Embracing the nautical and sometimes steampunk themes that this technique gives rise to,
I begin to notice the appearance of common metaphors. My art practice and Gesamtkunstwerk form a collection that together tells the narrative of this search.
Using The Age of Sail as a point of departure, my work attempts to capture the imagination and sense of wonder that once inspired early explorers to cast themselves out into the unknown, following the human drive to fill in the blanks on their maps. It is my hope that the viewer is instilled with this sense of wonder and adventure as they look to their own lives and the choices and motives for the directions they take. I want my works to inspire a deep introspection from the viewer, symbolism and coded messages hidden within the works reward the observant viewer and act as signposts to guide them along the way.
