Aric Sites

Aric Sites is a mixed media artist from Shippensburg, PA. His most recent body of work, Weight, explores memory at a strikingly personal level.

I am fortunate to call Aric my contemporary and a close friend. His work is consistently technical and conceptually compelling, and a source of personal inspiration.

Aric, we've known each other for a number of years now, but for those that are unfamiliar with your work, please tell us a little bit about what you do.

My recent artisitc focus has been directed towards a series of large format ( 70in. x 48in. ) works on canvas. This series has been executed in a variety of mediums concentrating predominantly on oil + collage/ fusion. The paintings combine abstract, representational, and non-objective elements.

The common thread between the twenty currently finished pieces is the fact that each individual piece contains some degree of text. I like to think of the imagry as music, and the text as lyrics blended to create a sort of haunting, visual diary.

My purpose is not to tell a story to an audience or to necessarily communicate happy feelings. The goal is to directly engage the viewer and relate bare, honest emotions to them from a clearly personal point of view. Please visit www.aricsitesart.com for further explanation.

I love this series Aric. You mentioned the concept of visual diary. Now from previous conversations that we've had, I know that your sketchbook doubles as a very intensive and well kept journal. How much do you feel that the contents of your writings influence the content of your work, other than there being a very visual text presence?

Very much so. The entire concept of the "Weight" series came from sketches and scribblings in notebooks and diaries. The challenge was to incorporate the frantic immediacy of such tiny passages into large scale works of art --- and still have the whole of the content transfer the same raw emotion.

More often than not, the intensely private entries do open up visual images in my head and I find myself immediately beginning to experiment with different ways to express them in my work. In addition to massive variables such as composition and color, I feel much of the final product is formed around the sometimes dark vibe of the text.

Agreed, I've always felt your pictures successfully portray the tonality of the writing included. Do you have any background in writing poetry?

Also, when you start to experiment with imagery, what is your thought process like when choosing to collage an image, or paint it? At what point in time do you decide, "this is going to be based on a collaged print". You are a very accomplished painter, so why make use of materials that are ready-made to some degree?

Definately no background writing poetry---- I still hesitate to call what I do poetry. I feel that it is more like simple -abstract/wierd fragments of thoughts, and memories (or at least interpretations of them) jotted down, then later refined and used in my work. Sometimes I'll sketch the scene of a memory and combine that with some scribbled thoughts as a catalyst for my creative process.

When experimenting with imagry, I usually have an idea in my head of how I wish things to turn out, but they never come off exactly as I envision them. As far as the paint/collage ratio, I would say that trial and error play a significant role. I believe that I use pretty primitive techniques to achieve various effects and textures. Throughout the process, Iwill add---then take away images with paint and collage--- and then repeat over and over until I start to get what I originally wanted. I start with a loose plan, however the process of the work takes control, constantly changing the direction of the work. Hence, I never really know what will work and what won't--until it's happening--but that's the exciting thing about it.

I know Weight has been a project that has been kept hidden and being developed in a basement for a number of years now. What are your plans for this body of work? Are there any shows that we can look forward to?

I plan on completing this body of work (22 pieces) prior to the new year (2011). At that point, I will immediately have a solo exhibition showcasing the entire body of work in its entirety. The show will be held at the Washington County Arts Council in Hagerstown MD beginning January 8 and running until early February.