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Local Artist, Larry Aarons

By Sana Sahra
Staff Writer

Famed American journalist Mary Schmich once said “Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.” For the month of October, Larry Aarons, a native New Yorker from the Bronx who works with graphite, pastels, and charcoals displayed his artwork, “The Myths Of Man” at the Hutchins Gallery located in the lower level of LIU Post’s B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library. He graduated in 1965 from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Aarons has been honored with many industry awards and never let his love for art be abandoned.

Aarons poses with some of his artwork
Aarons poses with some of his artwork

Like many students, Aarons also entered college for one purpose and graduated with his mind set on another. Aarons spoke enthusiastically about his life and artwork. “I entered art school to become an illustrator and somewhere in the end of my first year, some friends of mine introduced me to advertising,” he said. “I became a creative director and had my own advertising agency.”

Although life was wonderful for Aarons, he returned to what he desired the most and that was art. “Somewhere three or four years ago, I decided that I had enough of the business world and I really reentered my art world. It has been fantastic and wonderful and that’s what’s been going on for me,” Aarons continued.

For Aarons, his audience’s reaction means more to him than his own opinions. “All art speaks to people differently, I feel that in my exploration of the portrait world, I have had great success in capturing the human corollary of a portrait.” “Many of my portraits give you eye contact but not staring at you, they give you an eye contact in the manner of what am I thinking as a portrait. So that the viewer reads into the eyes of the person whose portrait it is and can input their own feelings into it, “ Aarons added.

There is always something different about every artist. Either it’s the style of painting, the technique or the theme that makes their artwork different from others. According to Aarons, each artist—no matter how they are schooled—portray their work they way they want to. He believes in the realism of the person but in making sure that the person’s personality comes through the artwork.

On further explaining about what makes his artwork different, Aarons said, “Each piece has its own personality, no two pieces are identical and no two pieces are treated the same. If you look at a gallery show, some of the things that tends to happen to an artist is that he starts to do something really good and then kind of repeats it with a slight variation and there is a tendency that that can get boring.” “The key aspect of my work is that every work of mine has a defined element of lighting,” Aarons said. “When you see something in light you get the information but when you see something in shadow

it’s really there for the fall. You may not see every aspect of the body but you know it’s there. One of the key things I do that separate me from the other artists is that my art is very graphically designed and the aspect of my art leaves you to finish it yourself with your own imagination.”

Aarons is an inspirational artist. His artwork “Myths of Man” which consists of portrays of human and sculptures from around the world took him less than two years to be completed. Aarons plans on adding more portrays to his collection.

Even after coming so long in life, Aarons knew that art is what matters the most to him and returned to which he had left years ago. “Do not let your dreams be diverted, dreams come at different times and mean different things to people,” he said. “Many people follow pursuits that have been dictated to them by other people who say you should do this and I think you’ll be best at that, I’m not telling those students not to listen but I’m saying listen to your heart, listen to your mind, try and give yourself the ability to be open as the ability opposes to itself. A great teacher is one who gives you the tools to make your own decision not the one who gives you the answers,” Aarons advised.

 

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