interview thirty-four: Ari

In this interview, we spoke to the talented Ari (@/arigoggles on instagram). She discussed her longtime passion for creative work, her favourite mediums to experiment with, and more.

courtesy of @friedchickenwingssss

Question one: Thank you for all of your kind words about our page, Ari! We are always so keen to follow your digital visual art, photography and other creative work via your Instagram, @/arigoggles. You seem to be very passionate about experimentation and several forms of graphic design. What are your favorite parts of the creative process and from where do you draw inspiration? Which mediums do you use? 
I’m so honored to have this opportunity to talk with you about my creative work. It feels surreal to have this moment because I’ve always been nervous to take my creative work “seriously” haha! Not me having imposter’s syndrome.... But my creations have been inspired from my candid perspective of people and life, which I love to capture. With the majority medium of my work being all digital, I try to emulate that special chaos of life in the final product of my photo and video work. I’m tired  of the photoshop to perfection standard of portrait photography, to the point that the person doesn’t even look like themselves anymore.  I’m a big fan and very inspired of how photographer, Hugo Comte, captures women in such a unique combination of vulnerability and empowerment. 


Question two: Your music taste seems to influence many of your artistic creations. What compels you to make art in homage to certain musicians? 
I’ve had this bit of a sad realization that music is the one consistent thing in my life. I’m not mad about it! Because I also tend to have a hard time with expressing how I’m feeling and communicating vulnerable thoughts. I realize music is kind of that perfect medium to celebrate and understand my emotions. Then after listening to their poetic and musical stories of their emotions and trauma, it gives me this visual that I can’t help but create art as homage to their work.

Question three: What have you been working on during the quarantine period? Has it been harder to be creative during this time, or has quarantine afforded you new ways and insight for creating? 
This quarantine period has been a blessing and a challenge. Prior to the pandemic, I dabbled in being “a creative” but had a hard time figuring out my style and vision. But since I’ve been forced to stay inside, plus I’ve been away from the chaos of Los Angeles for the past year, I’ve had this unique and lucky opportunity to experiment with my art and I feel that I’ve finally figured out who I am creatively. I kind of hate how a lot of my recent portrait work is just basically selfies of myself, but I gotta do what I need to do in isolation, lol.  In terms of creative projects, I’ve just been reaching out and helping out friends who need a creative for their own projects. I’ve done music single covers, currently working on a poetry zine with a friend, had the opportunity to create art for the book Like Streams to The Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins (didn’t make it to the final cut of the book but I’m still very glad to have the opportunity!), creating collages for publication, lucky, for their articles. But I’ve also been in the works of doing other creative pursuits outside of the art I do like making a podcast and contemplating on vlogging again. Can you tell how bored I’ve been staying indoors this past year. 


Question four: Who are your favorite content-creators who you have discovered during quarantine? 
I have to give credit to TikTok for a lot of my artistic inspirations. The overload of creative tutorials, from other creatives that come up on my “for you page,” have really helped and shaped my style. But with specific creatives, Hugo Comte is a major one. Also is Brent McKeever, Quincy Banks, Du Blonde, and so many more creatives in that alternative-ish area.

Question five: What are you looking forward to attending, watching, or participating in after the quarantine period?
The major thing that I’d love to come back are concerts/music festivals. I miss being in a crowd of people and enjoying the music act we’re seeing all together. Hopefully, I’ll continue to have the chance to work with musicians or creatives, in person, to create art together. And just for fun, I’ll make an effort to participate in more open castings for video shoots. Literally right before the pandemic was taken seriously in America, my friend and I were casted for LAUV’s music video for “modern loneliness.” But COVID shut down the production of the shoot and it made me want to do more of this type of work. 

Question six: Is there a process you go through before sharing your work, or are you spontaneous in that sense? 
I feel like I should have a regular process for my sanity, organization, and better response and views. But I’m very spontaneous when sharing my work. My fatal flaw is that I get too excited with what I’ve created, then impulsively post and share my work wherever and whenever. That’s why I’ve made my “art” Instagram account, @friedchickenwingssss, to spare people from the spam.

Question seven: Many thanks for reaching out, Ari! We’re so grateful to have been able to speak with you! To close, what is the greatest advice you have been given, or want to give to young creatives who seek to grow their platforms? 
Thank you again for having me! Seriously, love what you have and created for upcoming creatives to be introduced through your platform. I’ve been in love with this quote from an interview, with author, Jedidiah Jenkins. I’ll be honest, I don’t know the exact answer to what he said. But the question was framed around advice for other writers and if they should even write. Jedidiah just said,  “if you have something to say, share it!” It’s so blunt but it’s so true because it’s so easy to feel discouraged and give up, on our creative pursuits, the second we feel insecure or don’t get the reactions and praise we want. Keep creating, experiment, focus on what you want to say with your art, put yourself out there, and don’t be afraid to share it. Because you never know who’s looking and who you’ll inspire next. 

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