Identify: Ariana Papademetropoulos
Age: 30
Hometown: Pasadena, Calif.
Presently Lives: In a three-story Victorian house within the Mount Washington part of Los Angeles that she shares with the musician John Carroll Kirby.
Declare to Fame: Ms. Papademetropoulos is a painter whose large-scale, hyper-realistic work affords a window into parallel universes. Her intricate renderings of deserted inside areas; large opalescent cleaning soap bubbles resembling alien planets; and even the occasional pegasus have been exhibited on the Vito Schnabel Gallery in New York and Smooth Opening in London. “I’m very a lot impressed by discovering the sweetness within the unknown whereas nonetheless being based mostly in actuality,” she mentioned.
Huge Break: From a younger age, Ms. Papademetropoulos was fascinated by seashells and different pure wonders that exhibit iridescent colours. “The work have gotten larger, however the topics have all the time been the identical,” she mentioned.
After attending the Los Angeles County Excessive Faculty for the Arts (“I used to be very rebellious,” she mentioned), she started working for her “mentor,” Noah Davis, the influential figurative painter who died of most cancers in 2015 at 32, and enrolled on the California Institute of the Arts, the place she graduated with a B.F.A. in 2012.
Her art-world debut got here in 2010, when her work was included in a bunch present curated by Mr. Davis at Roberts Tasks in Los Angeles. “Working for Noah was one of many largest influences on my life,” she mentioned.
Newest Challenge: “The Emerald Pill,” a solo exhibition of recent works by Ms. Papademetropoulos, which is on view at Jeffrey Deitch Los Angeles till Oct. 23. The present is loosely based mostly round a theosophistical studying of Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz” and features a mind-bending number of works from Beck and the occultist Marjorie Cameron. “The present is about Los Angeles as a spot to create your individual actuality — a spot for self-discovery,” she mentioned.
Subsequent Factor: She will’t reveal a lot, however she plans to assemble a modern-day nymphaeum in Florence, Italy — a pure grotto dedicated to nymphs utilized by Historic Greeks and Romans. “I’m actually inquisitive about utilizing structure to create a journey,” she mentioned.
Life Imitates Artwork: Like her work, Ms. Papademetropoulos’s private life borders on the surreal. Final December, she spent three weeks as a visitor at an opulent 18th-century Sicilian villa belonging to Princess Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca, an eccentric 71-year-old descendant of considered one of Italy’s oldest noble households. “The home is nearly constructed as an set up,” she mentioned. “Each wall is painted a unique shade and every room educates you ultimately.”
