travis john
Perseus with the Head of Medusa
Giclee print on canvas
102 x 140 x 5cm
2018
Travis Ficarra John’s paintings are comprised of found imagery sourced from the web. They examine the materiality of the digital image, particularly through the lens of the perspectival metaphor of the Window. John conceptualizes a glass-like transparent veil as parergonal surface, a site of tension between a virtual space and a flat plane, a threshold as both boundary and bridge.
Perseus with the Head of Medusa (2018) takes its title from Cellini’s 1554 sculpture of the same name and repurposes this imagery as a contemplation on the intersections of objectification, fetishization, violence, and the power dynamics inherit to the gaping void between divinity and the bestial.
Seed Drawing /
the Rule of Hospitality
Graphite on paper
20 x 30 cm framed
$800
Perseus with the Head of Medusa part II / Paradise
Travis Ficarra John is an artist and composer based in Melbourne, Australia working in painting, sound and sculpture. He holds a BFA Honours from RMIT and a Master of Contemporary Art from the Victorian College of Art. Travis has exhibited at Blindside, BUS projects, Fort Delta, Seventh Gallery, the Arts Centre, and WestSpace. He has also performed at events and venues such as SuccessArts Perth, the MCA Artbar, the International Noise Conference, Gertrude Contemporary and the Art Centre Melbourne. Travis is the recipient of the Australia Council New Work Grant, the NGV Victoria Women’s Association Award, the Nava Australian Artists’ Grant, the Mary and Lou Senini award and was shortlisted for the Darebin Art Prize in 2019. He is currently a researcher at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Graphite on paper
20 x 30 cm framed
$800