Why Travis Fish Took Three Baths a Day While Painting His New Solo Show

For years, Travis Fish has transferred his deepest obsessions onto his canvas, playfully recreating images of celebrities or garments that have resonated with him for one reason or another. In his new solo exhibition at Jupiter New York’s inaugural show, he decided to add a few narrative twists. That Dog In Me includes colorful portrayals of a dejected Tyler, The Creator surrounded by airedale terriers; a sheepish Anthony Hopkins plugging away at a grand piano; comedian and restauranteur Matty Matheson planted behind his motorcycle; and artist Henry Taylor fawning over a Matisse painting. Also included is a portrait of Josué Thomas—designer, artist and founder of the beloved L.A. brand Gallery Dept.—perched at the foot of a piano in a recreation of a performance Fish had seen of Thomas years earlier in Miami. To mark the opening of his new show, Fish got on the phone with his temporary muse to talk about the nature of collaboration, the magic of Paris, and why he bathes three times a day.

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JOSUÉ THOMAS: How’s it going, man?

TRAVIS FISH: I’m good. How are you?

THOMAS: Pretty good. I’m in New York, got here yesterday morning and then heading to Paris tomorrow evening.

FISH: Oh, nice. What have you got in Paris?

THOMAS: Well, the Olympics are going on, but it’s not for that. I just got an apartment out there.

FISH: Nice. Well, I’m in the Chinook Winds parking lot on the coast. We’re driving down from Vancouver, taking our sweet time, me and my wife. After a show, I need to be on the road to really give myself a break.

THOMAS: That’s good, man. You need to step away so you can reflect, soak it in. You’ll get new ideas and new inspiration. It’s good that you pull away.

FISH: Oh, yeah. 

THOMAS: I heard it was very successful. 

FISH: It was cool. It was a new body of work where I was going back to my portraits but adding a little bit more context with the piano or the motorcycle.

THOMAS: Has there been a different response to the new works?

FISH: I mean, people love a piano player. 

THOMAS: That’s funny.

FISH: Having that extra element gives people more to wrap their heads around, you know?

THOMAS: Yeah, it gives more depth. And we’re in an age of musicianship where instruments, musically or in popular culture, are pretty much obsolete.

FISH: Right. I kept coming back to your opening in Miami with your piano performance. It just left me just speechless.

THOMAS: That was super cool.

FISH: It really set the tone. Have you been in the studio?

THOMAS: Yeah. I’ve been doing a little bit of everything. Art That Kills is my record label, and I have four projects coming out on that this year. I produce for other artists, but I’m also now working on my solo project, just building skeleton beats. I’m focused on releasing womenswear later this year for the brand. And I’m always painting. I just set up my studio in Miami, and I put a ring where I box in the exhibition space and then there’s a photo area. I have music equipment and there’s an area where I paint. I’m touching different things at different times for different reasons.

FISH: If I start a painting, I have to finish it and nothing else matters. I don’t go home for a day or two, I’m just locked in mixing all those colors. 

THOMAS: That’s sick. I wish I was more like that. I like working under pressure, because sometimes the work sort of lingers. But when I have a hard deadline, I’m like, “You know what? It’s done.” I trust my instinct and leave a lot of trust in the work.

FISH: Well, that’s what I’m noticing with these new ones. With your portrait again, I was like, “Damn, what is the necklace?” I got so hung up on that. Then I was like, “Oh my God, the shoes. The shoes are the most important part of this.”

THOMAS: Yeah. I double checked to see, “Did he have the little detail, those rhinestones on the eye?” 

FISH: It was wet on wet to get that rhinestone look. It was fun.

THOMAS: That’s super cool, man. I’m curious to see where this leads. I was showing my girlfriend your stuff and we dug into your Instagram. It’s so cool to see something different still have the same presence, even graphically.

FISH: Yeah. I was thinking, “Damn. I did your ‘Stop Being Racist’ shirt.” It goes back a while now that I’ve done your pieces.

THOMAS: It’s crazy. You’ve been doing these things instinctively and then in hindsight it all makes sense. I imagine for you it’s more instinctive and you go with that energy once you see the vision for it. 

FISH: Yeah, I just get hit with it like, “I gotta paint that.” I feel like the shirts used to always be like that. 

THOMAS: What’s your biggest inspiration, stylistically? Is there one?

FISH: Oh god, I don’t know. Music has always been such a big part of it for me, but I love art history too. When I was living in New York, I was surrounded by great painters all the time, so it’s like, “Well, you got to keep up with everyone and keep pushing.” How long have you been in Miami now?

THOMAS: Going on three years.

FISH: What made you get out of L.A?

THOMAS: Well, I was born and raised there, first generation. I lived there all my life. And you travel and think, “Oh, it would be cool to live here,” but there was never really a place that really struck me that way. But with Miami, I just love the water and the humidity of a tropical climate, so I had a whole epiphany. I was like, “I could live here and be immersed in water. This place is interesting because it’s tacky but cool, and there’s a lot of opportunity to be refined and to add culture, but utilize the culture that’s existed, not just take away from it.” I felt like I could be somewhere where I don’t know anyone, be in my own little bubble. I’m super inspired there.

FISH: Yeah, that seems like a huge part of your life right now. And collaboration is a huge part of your thing, isn’t it?

THOMAS: Yeah, I’m very particular about it. We don’t have tons of partners, but I’m picky about who we work with. I like long-standing partnerships that have meaning behind them. We don’t market traditionally like most clothing brands do, so it’s been an interesting way to tell a story with a brand and then let them market more conventionally. But I don’t think about it as a way to get a paycheck. It’s more like, “What are we doing and why?” It enables creativity and engagement, storytelling, all the above.

FISH: Fashion seems to have the ability to be collaborative more than art a lot of the time.

THOMAS: Yeah, absolutely. Most fashion becomes boring by the time it gets out into the world. There’s some stuff that’s cool and genuine, but most of it isn’t at all. It’s like, “Let’s take this thing that exists in the world and sell it in the fashion world.” It doesn’t have any ties, whether it’s to a culture, a character. It could be a European fashion house that’s like, “We love western culture, or skate,” but they’re sending it to people as if it’s a sort of subcultural thing. I don’t know how people don’t see through that type of stuff.

FISH: Yeah. When are you off to Paris? 

THOMAS: Tomorrow evening. 

FISH: Nice. I’ve had a few group shows out there.

THOMAS: How do you like it there?

FISH: It’s beautiful. I like the attitude. I like the mashup. There’s fashion, art, food. It doesn’t feel as separated as it does in L.A. It feels much more like New York to me where it’s like, “Anything could happen tonight.”

THOMAS: Yup. I get super inspired there, there’s still stuff that’s oozing out on me from that trip that I need to create. Paris resonates, it’s just in the air.

FISH: Like you’re just getting fed constantly. 

THOMAS: I feel like all the dead artists of the past are just floating around there.

FISH: I need to take some time and make a show there. That would be on my list of things to do.

THOMAS: How do you feel about showing your work?

FISH: I like viewing my paintings the best on the buckets in the studio. That’s where it’s meant to be seen. During fashion week, I was in an old Walgreens and TELFAR and all these people were upstairs and I was working down there. It wasn’t really live painting, it was just my studio set up down there, and I liked that element of it, where people come through like, “Oh, that’s not done yet, but that’s where it’s at.”

THOMAS: For sure. It’s the best part.

FISH: Yeah. I don’t need to hide away to make it. I like to bounce around. 

THOMAS: Obviously music drives you, but is there anything else that’s a part of your process that is unique to you? 

FISH: I have no idea. I think it’s all pretty normal at this point. I wake up, paint for three hours, and then it needs to dry, so I go back and take a bath. I take three baths a day when I’m making a show. 

THOMAS: That’s cool.

FISH: Also, I won’t be on my phone. I just have to remove myself completely.

THOMAS: Of course. I like being in a mess of things, but I’ll have to hit the beach to do nothing. When I’m training, I try to hit the sauna or steam room or I get a massage. The ideas that come to me while I’m getting a massage or just in a sauna are crazy. So I can easily imagine a bath, because you need that solitude for you to really process things and step away. 

FISH: If you stand in front of a painting long enough, you will ruin it. If you can’t get yourself to stop, it can go way too far really quick. It’s almost like my mind gets so washed during painting that I can’t go hang out with people. You know what I mean? I can’t communicate, so it’s like I have to be alone.

THOMAS: Next time you see me boxing you’re going to see a fucking bathtub to the left. You’re like, “Hold on, he has a bathtub in the studio now?!”