Hi, I'm Ari | Portfolio - INDS

"OH NO, YOU DON'T"
10 Sept 2024 • Digital Illustration

For a grand majority of my time in education, I have not been given the opportunity to flourish. Education, forever stuck in its ways, prioritizes conformity, sterility, and unity. Stripping the layers of each student’s personality, little by little, and piece by piece. But I have never been content with conformity. I wear my rebellious spirit on my sleeve, evident in my manner of speech and in my style of dress. Oozing from every conceivable facet of what one can consider “the self.”

Public education in contrast has served to only limit my creativity, push me down further into repression and angst. Something represented visually by the shadow-y, almost tendril like hands that reach out and grab the figure. Pulling them back in line, back into lockstep with the rest of the student body. All the while an escape is within their reach.

IN THE SPACE BETWEEN MAN AND SHAPE
13 Sept 2024 • Digital Illustration

Emotional maturity, a goal that all young people (hopefully) work towards, is the never ending goal that taunts us on our journey’s throughout life. In this transitory period of our lives, it is so easy to forget that this time we share is yet another chapter of the book of our lives.

We, in the simplest of words, are molded by our lived and perceived experiences. In essence, we all begin as formless beings - molded out of the basic geometric framework that is ‘being human.’ Represented visually through the various geometric representations of the human form.

We often confine ourselves to our perceptions and predispositions of others, being molded by our narrow and limited perspectives. As Nick Sousanis made reference to in the chapter, ‘Such is the case with our Flatlanders, trapped within the borders of their vision. Unable to imagine otherwise.’ (Sousanis 24). We are in essence, trapped within our mind’s perception of our lived realities when we could be pursuing the reality we wish to shape the world to be. Ultimately reduced down to our base elements - the basic shapes that make up the human form.

THE MADNESS OF PERFECTION
23 Sept 2024 • Digital Illustration

Within each and every single one of our psyches, in the deepest and most repressed cortex and synapses, exists our innermost child. The child within ourselves demands a certain level of freedom, that we as creatives let loose as we create our work. But often another aspect of our labyrinthine brains comes out to rear its ugly head - perfectionism.

Much like blight on a crop field, perfectionism is a plague on the creative mind. Slowly sapping the lifeline of creative expression - experimentation. Creative endeavors by their very nature demand unique and often new perspectives to approach the subject. Perfectionism demands that all outputs must meet a certain level of polish, refinement, and completeness. It strips the resulting piece of all individuality, and much like the dictatorial governments of the 20th century, oppress the creative mind.

HELLSEHERISCH
29 Sept 2024 • Digital Illustration

Sight. When we really and truly think about what sight is, the more we confound ourselves with overly complicated and pseudo-intellectual discussion about the meaning of living and perception. To me, sight, in the most basic of basic senses, is our visual perception of the world around us.

But even seemingly objective observations can yield vastly different results when taken from different perspectives. For instance, you and I could observe an orange, a fruit named for its distinct color. In this hypothetical, I could observe the orange has a deeper yellowish-red hue whereas you may see the orange bordering on green!

The eyes are a gateway to the world of living that we inhabit. As such, sight becomes one of, if not the most important sense the human body has. Not to say life without sight isn’t possible nor enjoyable, but rather that visual cues define artistic expression and inform perception.

The earth, in essence, becomes just another vehicle to carry information - PEOPLE, and everything we’ve ever known. Just like vision, connecting each aspect of our reality and unifying the experience of living. ‘Two Points - Two Eyes - Connected, fostered an expansion of sight and reshaped our view of the planet.’ (Sousanis 32).

DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
8 Oct 2024 • Digital Illustration

When you hear the words ‘Do you understand’, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you internalize the knowledge you’ve gained? Do you simply discard the information? Or do you, seize the opportunity to reflect on your gained knowledge.

Does our method of communication truly encapsulate what it means to ‘understand’? What does understanding even entail? Does the knowledge we learn and ‘understand’ benefit our lives? In some cases, arguably yes. Whereas in others - it isn’t as clear cut.

Sousanis argues that visuals, in particular sequential art, can be a powerful method of communicating ideas that span across various cultures and topics. Page 60 (in Unflattening) in particular demonstrates just how powerful medium visuals are at communicating ideas. The page oozes style, calling attention to the various names comics have had over the years.

Visuals, as both I and Sousanis have argued, can be a powerful tool that communicates things that text cannot. Together they create a powerful visual/textual medium that fulfills both niches and enables the oh-so-sought after, Understanding.

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE
19 Oct 2024 • Digital Animation

The experience of life is a wholly unique experience for each and every single one of us on this planet. Our lives, and interactions with the world around us and the media we consume, dictate how we view the world in turn. Even those who grew up with similar circumstances wealth-wise can grow up to lead vastly different lives.

Recognizing that all humans, not just the flesh vessel we inhabit, have a unique perspective to bring to the conversation. I hold a unique pair of magenta tinted spectacles which I view the world with. I wanted to capture that in this piece - my perspective.

The world is canvas, a blank slate from which the beauty and largess of nature provides all the necessary components to construct a beautifully rendered art piece. What I see however, is a world - flattened. Flattened, by lofty idealism and weighed down by the talons of unchecked capitalism. The corporatization of everyday living has become too much for one to bear, and so a raw, visceral, and truly contrarian view developed within me - drew me to media which better reflected my anti-establishment views.

RES IPSA LOQUITUR
30 Oct 2024 • Digital Illustration

In the barren wastes of creative bankruptcy, lies an isolated plinth. A platform, carved out of rock not found in the surrounding deserts. Standing alone amongst a turbulent sea of dunes as far as the eye can see. The platform acts as a lowly island. A stopping point and marker for the pilgrims who find themselves lost without a nary idea on what to do to pull themselves out of their creative rut.

On top the columns found on the platform reads a simple etched inscription. Reading simply, ‘Res Ipsa Loquitur’ - it speaks for itself. Imagination doesn’t need to justify its own existence, because it simply speaks for itself.

IDLE THOUGHTS
1 Nov 2024 • Digital Illustration

3:22 AM, Late one summer night. 2021. I remember the day like it was yesterday. The day was over, and yet here I was laying awake, unable to fall asleep no matter what I did, changing sleeping position, with blankets and without, drinking warm milk, but nothing worked.

But with the silence that comes with late night serenity, the idle thoughts cut through the white noise and filter directly into the forefront of my mind. [late at night] is when the darkest and often most soul-crushing thoughts of self-doubt and depression rear their ugly heads.

I am not alone in feeling this way. Often, joked about and shared as a ‘cultural universal’ is the archetypal 3AM random spike of motivation to change your life, but for me and many others - it isn’t a spike of motivation, it's a pike of regret and painful memories.

THE STRINGS THAT BIND US…
29 Nov 2024 • Digital Illustration

Strings become an important metaphor for the malaise and seemingly inconsequential nature of everyday life. Everyday routine only grinds the edges of our personalities down into their final dumbed down shape. And burns our edges into only the ash of complacency remains.

Sousanis’ usage of the puppet is evocative of the feeling like you aren’t in control of your own actions. As if there is some mysterious hand that puppeteers your limbs as if you were on stage for the world to see.

This repetitive day-to-day malaise and puppeteering show, ultimately reduces our personalities down to that of a simple wooden doll. Made to dance and ask the question “who are you?”

...ARE BROKEN
30 Nov 2024 • Digital Illustration

When faced with the ultimately dreadful revelation that society’s mechanisms exist to control us and puppet us like a marionette for a show, there are two outcomes that one can choose. The first, and most commonly chosen outcome - is that of conformity. “Why fight, when everyone else gives in.”

But, the second and arguably most important outcome - is freedom. Freedom from the strings that puppeteer us on the day to day, freedom to decide for ourselves. The freedom to look at the world around us and make decisions for ourselves. But often, the clouded vision of the first option, looks to be the most appealing to our social brains.

In many ways I see my own journey through this art, and through Sousanis’ comic. Everyday is a new page in the book that is my life, college is just one chapter in many chapters. Slowly, but surely the pages get filled and another day comes to a close. But what of the end, what of the things seemingly “set in stone”

But we come to soon realize that life - like Sousanis’ book, doesn’t always provide a clear answer. That sometimes we have to author our story ourselves, and that we need to take control of the strings and break them.

‘THE DREAM WEAVER’
22 Nov 2024 • Digital Illustration

The human mind acts as a gateway to a world full of creative ambition and possibilities. Whether or not we may realize or not, the nuances between our own perceptions help inform our creative outputs as well. Two artists, and the same medium can result in wildly different end results. As exemplified by our two performing artists: Sousanis and Mack.

Sousanis’ signature style incorporates a variety of symbolic imagery to reinforce the point of the comic he wrote. His art allows you to lose yourself in the detailed but rather simplistic monochromatic color palette. Mack, on the other hand, utilizes more abstract imagery and uses a multi-media approach to his art. Incorporating painterly elements such as watercolor alongside cutouts from papers / relevant media to the topic at hand.

Both artists utilize the medium of comics in distinctive and yet with very drastically different outcomes. But that is not to say that one is better than the other, but rather that the differences in approach simply portray a different end result. But in an almost poetic way, Mack and Sousanis are two sides of the same coin, with Sousanis’ monochromatic line work giving way to Mack’s impressionistic and vibrant colors.