Amid a hectic year's end
that takes in triumphant sold-out shows and multiple TV and radio appearances, Travis sit in an art gallery on London's Portobello Road. Lining the walls are a selection of abstract expressionist works by Stuart Sutcliffe--the one-time Beatle whose tragic early death was portrayed by Stephen Dorff in Backbeat. Damon Albarn and ex-Boo Radley Martin Carr are among those willing to stump up around £5,000 a go to collect Sutcliffe's work. And Travis themselves are hardly short of admiration for the former moptop.
"This is great stuff," enthuses bassist Dougie Payne. "I'd love one of these. The scary thing is what he might have achieved--he was only 21 when he died."
Travis are probably as well placed to comment on the future of art as any contemporary band. Dougie, guitarist Andy Dunlop, and frontman Fran Healy all attended the well-regarded Glasgow School Of Arts, while Fran's home is adorned with artwork by Pete Fowler, the Super Furries' in-house painter-man, and Glasgow School Of Art alumnus Michael Grant.
Of course, in recent months the art-world cause celebre has been Tracey Emin's manky old bed. Fran is an admirer, while Dougie isn't impressed. Both, however, have time for many of the varied strands that can be grouped under the banner of conceptual art.
"To me, conceptual art is a very '70s term," says Dougie. "But I think people like Tracey Emin are connected with the way art is moving toward a more personal, more human outlook. The thing that most good artists have in common at the moment is they're dealing with the single human being's futility--a sense of futility in the face of the world, of the universe. But they're dealing with it in a hopeful, optimistic, humourous way."
"To me," adds Fran, "art boils down to something that has an effect on you, something that tells you about the world, but also helps you to understand it. A few years ago, to take people into this area, artists were using shock tactics--Marc Quinn's blood head, Damien Hirst's shark, and a lot of the things you got at the Sensation exhibition. I think people are now having to look for more depth and deal with things in a more emotional, more human way.
"Damien Hirst is a good example of this--he'll do something that's brutal and shocking, then he'll also do his swirl paintings, which are just sweet and playful. I have no doubt whatsoever that Damien Hirst is someone whose work will be there in 100 years."
Other Travis initiatives for the future of art include the elimination of the bad ways of the traditional gallery space ("Get rid of the moneyed beard-strokers!" rails Fran), plus the removal of the critical establishment. "Six-year-old kids are the best critics," suggests Fran again.
"I think there are a lot of exciting artists who are on the verge of becoming world-renowned," offers Dougie. "David Shrigley [Glasgow-based primitivist] is amazing. He does these books full of crappy, child-like drawings and writing--they're very funny, but they also have really sinister undertones. My friend Gary Rough is someone else I think has a bright future. I went to at school with him and he now lives in New York--the last thing I saw from him was this series of photos which I thought was fucking amazing. He made these remote-control boxes, but out of cardboard boxes and straws from McDonald's. Then he was photographed under the flight path to JFK, like he was controlling all the jumbo jets coming in. To me, it's a humourous look at the fact that the individual is quite helpless."
And with that Travis depart for tonight's show--doubtless to deliver their own reassuring, humanist rationalisation of the hapless individual's fate in the face of an uncaring universe. "You're driftwood," go those familiar words. "Floating underwater..."
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January 2000
TRAVIS on the future of painting, sculpture, and conceptual installations.
