Lit: Ari Fish 

 

Ari Fish is an artist whose work spans multiple disciplines, from painting and sculpture to graphic design and immersive installations. Her passion and deep curiosity create an individual that thrives at the intersection of art, symbolism, and personal expression. Fish has spent her career navigating the world and creativity on her own terms. Her journey, shaped by experience and exploration, defines her art and in many ways her self.

On a human level, Fish is dynamic and captivating. She exudes warmth and it’s nearly impossible to not be drawn into her. On an artistic level, her work is equally bewitching. Even pieces that appear simple have depth and richness built from complexity and understanding.  

Fish’s perspective on art is one of resonance—she seeks to create work that connects with while leaving space for interpretation and reflection. She believes that artists are inherently compelled to address social and cultural issues, whether or not they set out to do so consciously. 

Her current work includes a sign series, a part of her, ‘Ten Temples,’ series that has stretched over more than a decade.

With Lit, our aim is to showcase artists in all their forms. From digital and visual arts to music and poetry, we hope to provide a platform for artists to share their work and tell their stories.

While Patients is a cannabis magazine at its core, as cannabis has changed so has our focus. 

Art, in any form, is a part of life and ourselves. And as cannabis has become a normal and celebrated part of life for so many – we hope to be able to expose cannabis consumers to new and interesting stories and artists. 

With that in mind, we couldn’t imagine a better first subject than Ari Fish.

In our conversation, Fish discussed her artistic philosophy, the evolution of her practice, and how cannabis intersects with her creative world.

 

Can you tell us about yourself and how you first discovered your passion for art?

Art is what you did when the adults were talking, right? 

You ask most artists when they started making art and they will usually say when they were a baby or a toddler, or as soon as they could hold a pencil. Well, of course. All children start making art as soon as they can, everyone. I think what begins as a pastime or a redirection for the sake of convenience for the adults around us to be able to focus on other tasks at hand, leads to an activity where children have autonomy and onus of their own worlds, their own imaginations, without the heavy influence of the adults around them. 

So, I’d say I subscribe and identify to most anyone’s introduction or discovery of art. Art was not an escape from reality for me, but the opportunity to construct my reality. 

I think I’d rather know why most people stop making art. 

What inspired you to pursue art as a form of expression or career?

Art, like religion, gets tricky when money is involved. 

To pursue art as a career, most of the time, inevitably means you’re bending to someone else’s expectations, and ultimately, hinders cultural evolution and the potential for revolution. 

That’s why you see the sophomore curse with musicians, I believe. There are many examples, of course, of artists having multi-faceted careers after they break into galleries and museums, but, for the most part, that is not the case. 

My career is in design, my passion is in visual art. 

With graphic design I can satiate a part of me that desires to make striking visuals all while communicating with audiences for the goal of showcasing a brand. 

I pursue visual art in my own time and on my own terms now with the understanding, having been awarded fellowships and grants and shown all around the world, that to create art on my own terms is the ultimate goal. 

That feeling of accomplishment only comes when it is not tied to someone else’s timeline, expectations, or budget. It took me forty years to understand this. 

 

How has your personal journey or life experiences influenced your work?

I’ve experienced a tremendous amount of grief in my life. If you’ve experienced any sort of deep grief, you develop the ability to experience just as much joy on the polar opposite of the spectrum, though your joy is tempered, grief enriches feelings of joy, too. 

My life has humbled me in a way where I believe that my art should be in servitude to furthering and reflecting on humanity. Just as much as I’ve been tempered into feeling deeply empathic toward a complete stranger, I’m just as quick to be guarded with a fine-tuned bullshit detector.

Every human is deserving of my empathy, but not necessarily my trust, and this carries on into my studio practice; a balance of servitude, tenderness, and skepticism. 

Were there specific artists or movements that shaped your style or approach?

First and foremost, comedy and music have been my greatest influences. I was deeply invested in watching at least eight hours of television a day when I was younger. I would watch any stand up special that aired, any music documentary. I adored Andy Kaufman, Sinbad, and Richard Pryor when I was a child. I loved Led Zeppelin, 2Pac, Bob Marley, and Nirvana when I was a child, too. Though my musical tastes have most definitely evolved, Nirvana, in all its cultural lore, still has a chokehold on me. 

Artistically speaking, I fell for Marcel Duchamp as a teenager, and all of the DaDa-ists. Their post war shellshock pushed and paved the way for contemporary art. Without a doubt. Andy Warhol, too. I’m not embarrassed to say that. Most art school graduates would cut you down if you said Andy Warhol was and is one of your greatest influences, but he was the ultimate mirror to American culture. I think he was post-punk before punk. Do you know what I mean? He was so anti-establishment that his art was the establishment. Like, here’s a box of Brillo pads…isn’t the Campbell’s soup can beautiful? How about Marilyn Monroe? Elvis? Warhol really didn’t care what people thought, and that was so punk. He made popular culture fine art and, in a way, broke the barrier to entry into the art world. A lot of art ‘elites’ didn’t like that. 

I could go on and on and collect kudos for name-dropping obscure artists and movements as influences on my art, but I’m not here to pander to a select few that would criticize me just as quickly. What I realize is that whatever you’re into, whatever you’re under the influence of, is your personal ingredient to creation, for better or worse.

 

How would you describe your artistic style or medium to someone unfamiliar with your work?

Right now, I like to paint signs in acrylic. I paint portraits, too, in thick acrylic. I’m also really enjoying website building. 

I used to design clothing and was a contestant on Project Runway, but took a hiatus to focus on large-scale installation art. I will probably return to clothing design when I’ve finished the conversations I need to have with sign painting and portraiture. 

My recent website-building obsession came about in the last couple of years. It scratches the itch I have for creating animated GIFs and also allows me to connect with anyone who has access to the Internet. 

I like building websites and taking viewers on a journey. I especially like building endless loops of information on a website. 

What does your creative process look like, from concept to completion?

My creative process starts with the punchline and I work back from there. Because I am a parent and have limited free time, I have to do these marathon sprints in the studio. So, I have to conceptualize long before the execution of an idea. When I am working in studio, I become an intern of myself doing the manual labor I assigned to myself weeks before to completion of a standard outside of myself. 

Do you have a favorite medium or tool that you work with, and why?

I use mid-grade acrylic paint and very nice brushes. When I paint portraits, I apply it thickly and I prefer not to worry that I’m using so much or worry of the cost of materials. 

But, I will always invest in nice brushes. 

The tools I use most are the Internet and my computer. I use the Internet for reference and as a way to observe and connect to the collective consciousness. When I am working on sign designs, I always draft them up on the computer first to play with fonts, scale, proportion, and color. 

What role does experimentation play in your art? Can you share a moment when taking a risk paid off?

Experimentation is essential to my artistic practice. 

My experimentation centers around time management and finding creative solutions to cut time from production of a piece while still getting to the punchline. 

The biggest examples of experimentation in my art recently are in my sign painting series. I’ve been adding references to flowers in my work. Flowers, sloppily painted, on top of these crisp signs. 

It was important to me to bring in the sort of symbolism of certain flower types like you find in the old Dutch Masters’ paintings. You have to be a little crazy, self-assured, and not tied to the original painting to add these sort of symbolic pieces over the detailed signs. You can’t rationally go back and repaint the sign again if you mess up, so you have to be very confident and concise with the application. 

In terms of a payoff, I think the payoff is just doing it and getting the ‘win’ that it looks complete in my eyes. 

How does cannabis intersect with your creative process or inspire your work?

I think when I was younger, I didn’t understand cannabis as a tool, or medicine, or an inspiration, especially not for my creative process. Back in college, it was more seen as a social norm, nothing more. 

As I understand it now, I can see how you can look at the different strains out there with stacked terpene profiles and know how it’s going to affect you. 

As a parent, I set a precedent for my children, and I always strive to set the example that you can and should be able to make art without being under the influence of anything, but that’s me, personally. Can I make art without coffee? Absolutely not. 

Does a hybrid strain like Orange Cookie Chem from C4 (Carroll County Cannabis Co.) give studio artists the ability to look at their art critically and without ego, maybe so. 

Do I need cannabis to create? Absolutely not. 

Have you noticed a shift in public perception about the connection between art and cannabis?

Well, there are a few things to address here. I think cannabis was revered as something that artists, musicians, writers, and actors partook in as a creative influence. But, where’s the data for that cliche? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Are artists more drawn to cannabis because of their demography? 

Sidebar, I read recently a study that stated that women who have had botox are less empathetic than those who have not. I think about this every day because there are some underlying issues with those findings. Were women with less empathy more prone to getting botox? Or, does the study’s findings measure empathy in facial expressions suggesting empathy?; expressions which many lack the ability to do after getting botox.  

All that to say, artists have always been on the fringe of society, perhaps always viewed as the counterculture. 

When the green wave hit the United States, there was a challenge to that stigma of partaking in cannabis. It is no longer strongly viewed as counterculture, contrarian, or seedy, but as a true medicine. 

Are you still counterculture or ‘punk’ if all your vices are viewed as medicine? Do you lack empathy if you get botox? I don’t know.

Do you think cannabis plays a role in fostering creativity or challenging traditional perspectives in art?

I think, like anything, cannabis can be used as a tool or a hindrance. I’ve personally seen it work both ways. The human body is a moving biome that can alchemize when plugged into a multitude of varying elements, cannabis being just one of many. An artist must understand the responsibility of its role within humanity. 

Just as humans create life, artists create ideas. These ideas and perspectives can be enriching or be completely detrimental to the advancement of humanity. 

Cannabis is not a cure-all for all ailments and should certainly not be the crutch that artists rely on for perspective and inspiration. With that said, I believe it is a great medicine for artists, and everyone, alike, to manage chronic pain and symptoms of PTSD and depression, of which many artists endure throughout their lives.

Are there specific pieces of yours that were directly influenced by cannabis culture or experiences?

There are three recent pieces of mine that come to mind that are directly influenced by cannabis; ‘Pain By Number’, ‘Weeds’, and ‘G-d’s Plant’. The first being the most recent, ‘Pain By Number’ explores my journey with chronic pain and fibromyalgia. Chronic pain patients are often asked to rank their pain by an arbitrary number scale of one to ten. I wanted to do a piece in solidarity with the number of women I’ve met in the cannabis industry that medicate themselves with cannabis strains that are high in Nerolidol to manage their pain. 

‘Weeds’ was created out of the stigma of cannabis use. My primary focus is in graphic design, branding, and marketing, and within the cannabis industry, there’s safety to talk about it, but once you speak on cannabis outside of the industry, there’s a shadow-ban, figuratively and literally, that you have to contend with. ‘Weeds’ explores this in its digitizing the cannabis plants growing in the bloom rooms, obscuring the details of the maturing buds. The text, ‘Weeds’ is emblazoned on the canvas with a copyright symbol. I’ve always been intrigued that the term ‘weed’ is completely subjective to the person saying it. Weed is just a term for a plant we deem unuseful. Dandelions aren’t weeds, they’re medicine. Cannabis isn’t a weed, it’s a medicine for many.

‘G-d’s Plant’ came about from a time when I was deep into organic food farming, helping to manage a hundred acre farm just north of Kansas City. My farming expertise called me into helping a loved one move their cannabis grow responsibly to another location. It’s a piece that’s deeply personal given the circumstances around the person’s situation and I wanted to pay homage to my loved one’s sacrifice. I wanted to re-create a High Times® cover but have it read ‘G-d’s Plant’ instead of High Times, and I wanted the ‘T’ to be obscured by a bud to imply that it could very well read ‘G-d’s Plan’ instead. 

What themes or messages do you aim to communicate through your art?

I think the goal of my art is resonance. Take what resonates and leave the rest behind. I try to use the tool of symbolism to tap into the viewer’s subconscious. 

We go on about our days not realizing the subtleties of influence from our surroundings, be it billboards, social media, or any of the content we consume.

 I’d like my art to be a sort of mile marker of emotion, nostalgia, and camaraderie in seemingly ubiquitous experiences we all have and I revel in the idea and grace of people choosing to live with one of my pieces in their homes. 

I think the themes and messages of my art can change over time for the viewer, and, at times, me.

How do you hope people feel or respond when they engage with your work?

I hope that people feel like they are a part of an inside joke. The art is the punchline, and their experience is the lead up to it. Some of my best mentors have been artists and educators that sort of speak in quadruple entendres that seem to educate me long after their direct influence. That’s the kind of influence I hope to have on people when they engage with my work.

Do you feel a responsibility to use your art to address social, cultural, or political issues?

I don’t see it as a responsibility of an artist, I see it more as a compulsion of an artist to address social, cultural, and political issues. That is the role of the artist, whether cognizant of it or not. Artists cannot untangle their cultural reflection of the times and environments of which they create.

What challenges have you faced as an artist, and how have you overcome them?

I believe there aren’t challenges, only lessons that artists face. In my lifetime, I’ve had to do a lot of software (and hardware) updates to my personal operating system, whether by choice or by circumstance, to address perceived challenges and transcend them into lessons. I developed some of the most toxic traits of an artist in art school and really had to reflect on that and unlearn some unhealthy time management issues I inherently acquired. 

I no longer seek validation in my art from my peers, nor am I measuring my value by my consistent output and long hours in studio. At a certain point, it becomes detrimental to your art practice and health to work like that. 

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2015 and it took years leading up to that diagnosis to understand what was happening to my body and mind. I suffered from brain fog and chronic pain, and yet, I didn’t have the knowledge to identify what was happening. Since then, it has taken me some time to come to terms with best practices to balance my mental and physical health with my art practice. 

I believe you have to self-reflect, take stock in what you have been doing and not have an ego that ushers you into the sort of reflex-like habits that you’re used to in order to positively evolve. I keep my circle of friends small and I am more discerning with my time. 

My primary focus is on my family and close friends, my health, and enriching my children’s everyday lives so that they may grow up and be better than me in whatever form they see fit. 

Can you share a moment or project that you’re most proud of in your artistic career?

100% when my children play in my large-scale art installations. Those are always full-circle moments. Whenever they offer up constructive feedback on my art, I feel like I’m trustfalling into their minds. 

I get to witness them thinking critically and articulating their opinions and they get to see me, in return, valuing their feedback.

What projects are you currently working on, or what can fans look forward to seeing next?

I’m currently working on my sign series and will be exhibiting those in the next year as part of my large-scale installation art series called Ten Temples. 

This installation art series began in 2010 and has been 15 years in the making. This exhibition of hand-painted signs will be the Ninth Temple and is an ode to the hand-painted signs on Signal Hill near what is now Crown Center. My Great-Uncle was a sign painter and had his hand-painted signs on that hill and I’m just now uncovering this past in my family history. 

The installation is a floor-to-ceiling simulation of an outdoor space where the viewer can rest in the center and be surrounded by this body of work that is installed to look like varying scales of billboards.  

 

Where do you see your art taking you in the future? 

Ideally, I would like to set up a foundation that supports regional artists. 

I would like to have a digital database of art to purchase by the public, that can be viewed and accessed all around the world. Instead of 50% of each sale of art going to the artist and the other 50% of the sale going to what would normally be gallery pockets, that remaining 50% would go to support local artists through grants that would not only be issued to cover the costs of studio materials, but to their housing, medical costs, daycare, food, and bills. 

There’s red tape everywhere, and even if it were just me selling my work and merch online, I know it can be done, no matter the scale.

What advice would you give to aspiring artists who are looking to find their voice or platform?

It’s a much different time for artists coming up than what I experienced. Young artists have access to information and people, no matter how famous, no matter how obscure, they can connect within seconds online. 

That’s bonkers. My advice would be to temper this access. And, that goes all ways, doesn’t it? Not everyone needs access to you and you do not need access to everything and everyone. 

I would suggest slowing down and observing more. Work on a farm for a year, take a dance class, travel for cheap and couch surf, give when you can, ask for help when you need help, nurture the relationship you have with your parents (they won’t be around forever), be honest with yourself and others, protect your peace, listen more than you speak, and whenever you’re depressed or angry, eat something and take a nap. 

The mother in me would tell them to quiet the criticism they have of themselves (and others). We’re all curious children finding our way through the world, let’s take care of each other and ourselves as such.