TRAVIS WALKER questions the notion of America and what it means to be American by portraying the shared but often separate experiences of the iconic American western landscape. Ever-considering how this vast landscape shapes and frames American culture, Walker observes the world changing around him and eternalizes these moments through painting, drawing, and printmaking. Following in the footsteps of American regionalists Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, and Maynard Dixon, Walker embeds a profound sense of place and culture in each work he creates. In doing so, he captures the timeless, playful, and often juxtaposed spirit of different regions across the United States, most often in the American West.
Travis Walker was born in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up as an Air Force brat whose nomadic childhood was filled with comic books, science fiction, and drawing. After graduating with a degree in Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University, the allure of the western landscape drew him to the valley of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he has lived and worked for nearly 20 years, blending contemporary landscape painting with the fictional worlds of his past. Walker was a 2013 panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts' Artists Communities Grant. He was a 2013 Artist in Residence at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and in 2012, he won the "Rising Star Award" from the Cultural Council of Jackson Hole. His work has been featured in SouthWest Art Magazine, Big Sky Journal, Mountain Living, Forbes, and The Guardian. He is the founder of the nonprofit Teton Artlab, an Artist In Residence program based in Jackson Hole.