ART
interview and portraits by OLIVIER ZAHM
the young california artist’s fairy-tale
palette and trippy installations create
a lynchian aura of pleasure and paranoia
OLIVIER ZAHM — Does a place or geography influence your painting? I mean, are you sensitive to your environment?
ARIANA PAPADEMETROPOULOS — Yeah, I’m always very sensitive to space. I have to be in an environment I feel inspired by. That’s why my studio here in LA is in Pasadena — in that old mansion. It reflects my aesthetic and the things I’m interested in. I like the trees, the old house, walking through the big iron gates every day. It’s kind of like a haunted house. And a lot of my work has elements of haunted houses, so it makes sense.
OLIVIER ZAHM — [Laughs] You often paint these mysterious interiors, like old houses.
ARIANA PAPADEMETROPOULOS — Or exaggerated or overly idealized ones. One interior…