[3] While working as a graphic designer for General Motors, Arisman took evening courses in figure drawing.
He has also illustrated books, including Fitcher's Bird (1983), and Frozen Images (1974), published by Visual Arts Press.
[4] Arisman's paintings have been exhibited in a number of one-man shows in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Other works, such as Charging Buffalo (2008), while remaining expressionistic in style, are less menacing, and may be interpreted as reflections on primal connections with the environment and with a regenerative life force.
As influences, he has cited André François, Goya, Velázquez, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and primitive art.