Visual artist and printmaker Aric Russom grew up in New England, where there are towns full of old mills. While working on his graduate degree, he began looking at some of the local factory buildings. Aric states; “There is a subtle narrative in my work; I wonder what took place in these industrial spaces, who worked there and in particular, how they are being repurposed in our new built environment.”
As he looked closer, Aric became interested in how the window functions as both a portal and surface; “I think we have a rather intimate relationship with windows – when inside, they form our connection to the world, while walking by they inspire our curiosity of what lies within. And never has this been more relevant than during the pandemic.” Looking at the surface of these structures has provided an opportunity for Aric to focus more directly on the formal aspects of colour, texture, and shape. The naturally flat nature of print has helped push this further.
Aric had been teaching relief and drypoint before he adopted printmaking as his primary mode of art making. He tells us; “As an oil painter, I found the long hours necessary for progress were hard to come by with my new teaching schedule. When I watched my students find success in a 45 minute block period, and the ability to compartmentalize their working process, I thought this might be exactly the change I need.” It’s now been more than 5 years and Aric hasn’t looked back. “I’m sure I’ll return to painting, but right now I’ve found the relief print process very rewarding, and it’s been exciting to see subject matter play out in a different medium,” says the artist.
Aric was orginally looking for a process that mimicked the richness of painting. He comments; “I enjoy using colour, so it was important that I be able to layer and add complexity to the image, while still maintaining the freshness that print is capable of producing”. However, he didn’t want to get involved with multiple blocks, thus naturally fell in love with the economy of the reductive process. Aric describes; “Being able to extract so much from one piece of linoleum is just brilliant. Also, there is this wonderful risk/reward experience when laying down a new colour, which can be very exhilarating. Working with small, limited editions keeps me from straying too far from my painting sensibilities, and I do experiment with monotype in between (and during!) projects.”
While absence of the figure can still reference a human presence, as in his current work, the last two years have had the artist thinking about working with a more direct figurative approach. Keep your eyes peeled for more soon…
www.aricrussom.com
@arussom_art
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