A smiley face, \u201cWash me,\u201d lewd depictions of human anatomy: Those are the typical inscriptions one might see etched into a dirt-covered car.<\/p>\n
But Aaron Decicio\u2019s body of work is more unique.<\/p>\n
For the past few years, the 46-year-old truck driver has been churning out hyperrealistic works of art on the dusty back ends of semi truck trailers in the Lewis Clark Valley.<\/p>\n
Decicio\u2019s mired murals span pop culture, sports and an \u201980s childhood, including photo-like depictions of HUNTR\/X from the Netflix hit \u201cK-Pop Demon Hunters,\u201d Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold and Robocop with a movie-accurate reflective shine, thanks to the truck surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just really impressive, the stuff he comes up with, all with a rag and dirt,\u201d said John Albrich, general manager of Idaho-based Excel Transport, the primary source of Decicio\u2019s not-so-clean slates.<\/p>\n
Decicio shares his work through his \u201cArt done Dirty\u201d TikTok and Instagram accounts with the handle @aarondecicio, but he said he\u2019s not looking for fame, or to make money off his hobby. He only started sharing his art on social media after an employee of an area mechanic\u2019s shop took a video highlighting one of his own pieces on a truck while it was in for work a few years ago. <\/p>\n
Instead, Decicio is looking for more dirt-covered canvases, particularly before the spring weather leads to cleaner roads and trucks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when the canvases really start going away, and I\u2019m searching, scrounging, scratching and clawing for any kind of dirty small van or trailer or something somewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a sort of sweet spot for dirt conditions that allows Decicio\u2019s work to really shine, he said. His primary tool is a shop rag, although he\u2019s started incorporating more brushes. If the dirt is too wet, it muddies his rag and blurs the lines. If it\u2019s too dry, he has to chisel through.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll push on it with a rag, and feel how thick the dirt is and how dense the dirt is,\u201d Decicio said. \u201cI just put a little bit more pressure and a little bit more pressure, till I can tell I can get three or four good layers out of it. And that\u2019s where multiple colors work out in black and white.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are other challenges that come with working in dirt. Decicio\u2019s work isn\u2019t made to last, and he often doesn\u2019t finish before the driver of the truck he\u2019s working has to go out on a route. He\u2019s fallen in love with it, though, and the medium also provides unique benefits, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have to find paint, I don\u2019t have to match colors, I don\u2019t have to blend to get the right hue, or whatever,\u201d Decicio said. \u201cIt\u2019s just black and white.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raised in Lewiston, Idaho, the artist, truck driver and Prep sports official spent four years in the U.S. Army after high school before returning to the region. He now resides on the other side of the valley, in Clarkston, Washington, where he drives for Blue Ribbon Linen Supply. He\u2019s always enjoyed drawing, painting and the like, but his place of employment is where he got his start in \u201cdirt art,\u201d as he affectionately describes it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI drew on their trucks for about a year, and ownership kind of liked it, at first,\u201d Decicio said. \u201cThey thought it was really cool, and they liked the progression of how the products were getting better and better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Decicio was kindly asked to end his artist residency at his place of employment. The company thought the art drew too much attention to the dirt on the trucks, the inside of which are certified hygienically clean for their clients in industries like health care. That sent Decicio searching for a new pseudo-studio for his now after-hours hobby.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost places, people just laughed at me, like, \u2018That\u2019s the dumbest thing I\u2019ve ever heard,\u2019 you know?\u2019 \u201d Decicio said. \u201cAnd then I would show them pictures of the drawings. \u2018Oh, that\u2019s cool, but yeah, not our trucks.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Albrich said he was happy to oblige Decicio. Excel Transport hauls waste all around the Inland Northwest, allowing the trucks to pick up plenty of road detritus in the colder months.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll check with me pretty much every day, every other day, and if there\u2019s an open trailer, I\u2019ll say go for it,\u201d Albrich said. \u201cWe try to stay quiet out on the road, but it doesn\u2019t hurt anything having murals on the back of our trailers for people to enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decicio\u2019s wife, Gabby Decicio, said it\u2019s been remarkable to watch her husband grow in the medium over the past few years. He\u2019s been doodling, drawing and expressing himself throughout their 21 years of marriage, and while she\u2019s not very artsy, the talent has been passed on to their daughter, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe puts so much thought and so much care into them; he really pours his heart and soul into it, and they turn out just amazing,\u201d Gabby Decicio said. \u201cYou show a picture to somebody, and they go, \u2018So that\u2019s paint, right?\u2019 No, it\u2019s just dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabby Decicio said she had her reservations while her husband was carrying out his craft at his place of work, worried it may have unintended repercussions on his employment. The offer to create at Excel has provided the perfect opportunity to both \u201cfeed his art\u201d and \u201cfeed the family,\u201d she said. She hopes that serves as an inspiration to fellow creators still needing to work a 9-to-5.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your passion ends up being what pays the bills, then that\u2019s fantastic, it\u2019s everyone\u2019s dream,\u201d Gabby Decicio said. \u201cBut if it\u2019s not, then you still can do your passion behind closed doors and give it to people, or go out, like Aaron does, and do it in random places, just so people can enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron Decicio\u2019s work evokes joy, and it\u2019s remarkable just how much it gets around, she said. Occasionally, Gabby Decicio will see her husband\u2019s handiwork pictured on Facebook as commuters trail behind a semi. It\u2019s rewarding to see folks appreciate it for what it is, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s art that\u2019s made of dirt, and that\u2019s it,\u201d she said. \u201cThe simplicity of it is, it\u2019s just dirt. In the end, it washes away, and his canvas is clean and he starts over. And then he does something totally different.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of late, Aaron Decicio\u2019s finished more than a few Seahawks murals, just in time for the Seattle club\u2019s fourth Super Bowl appearance: Blitz the mascot, a memorial for hall of fame defensive back Kenny \u201cthe Enforcer\u201d Easley and Darnold, juxtaposed with New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye on the other side of the truck\u2019s doors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe face mask ended up a little crooked,\u201d Decicio said of his Maye depiction. \u201cWith this medium, the dirt art, there\u2019s no mistakes. And if you do make mistakes, you have to make an adjustment, and you go on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decicio\u2019s not quite sure where he\u2019s headed with his hobby, only that he wants to continue improving with each rag swipe or brush stroke. He\u2019s hoping the Northwest community assists him in that effort by providing dirt-covered vehicles to clean, little by little, into elaborate murals.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s his labor of love, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 46, and I wish I would have started this 20 years ago,\u201d Decicio said. \u201cBut then again, I don\u2019t know. Maybe I might not have been as good as I think I am. Maybe I started at just the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A smiley face, \u201cWash me,\u201d lewd depictions of human anatomy: Those are the typical inscriptions one might see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-449173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}