Saying More With Less: Arkansas Artist Aaron Bleidt Paints A Picture of Creativity, Passion

Photos courtesy of Artful Outsider Studio 

 

Aaron Bleidt is a Fayetteville-based artist and entrepreneur who works primarily with freehand digital drawings. His pieces boast bright colors and simple visuals, balancing a playful feel with deep meanings.

 

It was only in 2018, while he had time off work for the holidays, that he dove into drawing.

 

 

“I just decided on a whim to try drawing and painting, curious to see what it would look and feel like,” he said. “Days later, I was already declaring the guest bedroom as a makeshift studio.”

 

He started by shyly sharing his work under an assumed moniker online. He then began giving some prints to friends and colleagues before gaining the courage to change his bio to his own name. In February 2020, he was offered his first solo show at Arsaga’s at the Depot in Fayetteville.

 

 

“I took the leap and was just so taken aback by how warmly it was received,” he said. “That initial exposure gave me the confidence to keep sharing my work more broadly.”

 

Just a few years later, Bleidt’s art has been shown in galleries around the South and even at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock during its 62nd Annual Delta Exhibition.

 

 

While growing up in Arkansas, he dabbled in creative pursuits, mainly writing and photography. His mother was a painter, and his uncle was a fine arts photographer, which influenced Bleidt.

 

For his recent visual pursuits, he cites many famous artists as inspiration, including Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

 

“I have always been fascinated by artists who could tell compelling visual stories with minimal elements,” he said.

 

 

He calls his drawings “vignettes” or “visual haiku,” meaning he tries to distill his wide range of themes into their simplest forms.

 

“It’s a creative challenge I love — saying more with less,” he said. “You want to say so much you have to reel it in sometimes. It’s so natural for me to go on and on in voice or writing, but in art, it’s equally natural to distill it down.”

 

Bleidt creates his art not with a brush but with an Apple pencil, being a digital freehand drawer. His canvas is his iPad. He said he has recently been creating works through a combination of both preplanned things he wants to draw and an open-ended vision. Thanks to the digital medium he uses, he is able to not only recreate earlier elements but actually copy them from one piece to another.

 

 

He said the process is almost like making collages, only from his own art rather than clipped from other people’s works. He works with a wide range of themes both tangible and imaginative and said he likes seeing what is around him in nature or the city and drawing from that, noting the “vastness of open landscapes” but also the “quiet beauty of everyday details.”

 

Bleidt is also inspired by the great beyond. Space, myths and abstract concepts such as escapism and wanderlust are infused into his works. Along with those themes, he also has incorporated many motifs, such as using “celestial bodies” throughout his art. That can often include a sun or a moon, portrayed both literally and in more abstract form, showing up in colors one does not expect to see a sun or moon take on.

 

 

“Give me an idea, and I’m going to run with it, but I’m probably going to put the sun in it,” he said, adding that using various visual elements creates a “consistent visual language throughout my work.”

 

Throughout his years of creating art, Bleidt has started to consider it a calling rather than a vocation.

 

“I have discovered that I have things to say and art to share,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve been as excited by anything that’s come before. This has given me the opportunity to, really, more deeply find that voice than ever before.”

 

 

What started as a hobby has come to mean so much more to him as he has discovered his artistic voice and the fact that he has things he wants to say through his art.

 

“Especially in today’s world, if we have things to say or things to share, especially if they’re intended to be positive and uplifting to society, I think it’s incumbent upon us as humans on this earth to share whatever that is,” he said.

 

His artistic pursuits have created a balance in his life. Professionally, he said, he has always been driven by the next goal and linear paths of success. Now he playfully calls his position as co-owner and chief marketing officer at design and marketing firm DOXA/VANTAGE his “day job,” saying his art has taken on a larger role in his life than a mere side gig.

 

“It’s a personal and purposeful practice now,” he said. “It’s no longer just about creating something visually striking.”

 

 

He said his hope is that when people encounter his artwork, they are met with a wide range of emotions. He said he wants it to spark some sort of recognition in the viewer, whether it is a memory or emotion, but also likes to leave room for interpretation.

 

“I want my art to entertain and beautify but also affirm, inspire, embolden and empower,” he said. “Just seeing my art resonate with viewers — whether through an exhibition, a commission or even on social media — feels deeply rewarding.

 

“When someone shares how a piece made them feel or what it evoked for them, that connection is truly the most meaningful part of the experience.”

 

 

While he has been learning his craft, he has also taken away a lot of lessons about himself and life. As an “eternal optimist,” he said he hopes the viewer leaves with a smile.

 

“[My art is] proof that you can truly do whatever you set your mind to,” he said. “I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be on this side of the brush, so to speak, as the artist, much less actively exhibiting and selling my work. It’s never too late to take a leap and throw caution to the wind and follow your dreams.”

 

To view Bleidt’s work, visit artfuloutsider.com or see it in person at MIXD Gallery in Rogers, at Fenix Gallery in Fayetteville, or as part of the current group exhibit, Beasts of Imagination, at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum from May 3 to Sept. 7.

 

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