Travis Somerville was born in 1963 in Atlanta, GA. After growing up in towns across the southern United States and along the eastern seaboard, he briefly studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore before settling in San Francisco, where he attended the San Francisco Art Institute.
His large-scale oil paintings on paper mounted to canvas incorporate collage and present images of political and cultural icons associated with the history of the south. His work explores complex social issues and serves as a point of departure for discussion about oppression and colonial attitudes.
He has been included in numerous museum exhibitions including Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malaga, Malaga, Spain; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; KMAC Museum, Louisville, KY; Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Charles Wright Museum, Detroit, MI; The Bass Art Museum, Miami Beach, FL; Frederick Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; The Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA.
Residency: October 2026 - January 2027
Art Exhibition: Friday, January 15 & Saturday, January 16 & Tuesday, January 19