Travis Louie

"When I was about 5 years old, I wanted to be King Kong. I wanted to climb the Empire State Building, clutching a beautiful little blond woman, while bi-planes circled around me trying to shoot my hairy ass down. Fortunately, I never acted any of that out. Most of my early childhood in New York, was spent making drawings and watching "atomic age" sci-fi and horror movies. So many Saturday afternoons included trips to the local comic shops and noon matinees at the RKO Keith's on Northern Blvd, marveling at the 1950's memorabilia; the rocket ships, the superheroes, the giant monsters, and those wonderful movie posters! I would try and draw as much as I could remember from those excursions.

"It was my grandfather who noticed my enthusiasm for art. He encouraged it, by taking me to museums, buying me art supplies and eventually building my first drawing table. I think I was 12 when I decided that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up."

Travis Louie is one of 50 contemporary artists featured in Metamorphosis 2 (beinArt Publishing).