Exploring a 15th-Century Monster Park and Balthus’s Studio with Painter Ariana Papademetropoulos

In her luscious paintings, Ariana Papademetropoulos creates a world that is in a tantalizing balance between fantasy and reality. Her works capture the sublime wonder of the natural world, and the creative potential of the human mind. They feature mythical beasts, such as unicorns, but also items from everyday life that contain an otherworldly beauty, such as seashells, bubbles, and roses. Based in Rome, Los Angeles, and Greece, the painter often blurs indoor and outdoor scenes, with beds floating in vast seas or flowerbeds in place of carpets.

Papademetropoulos is currently working on her first installation art, creating a contemporary nymphaeum at Rome’s prestigious and historic Villa Medici. As part of her research, the artist has visited a number of natural and artificial caves in the region, from the former setting of an Aphrodite cult in Greece to Marie Antoinette’s exuberant dairy at Château de Rambouillet. She is interested in the feeling that these spaces evoke, whether real or not, and the role that both nature and artifice play in creating this aura.

Here, she talks about her time in Balthus’ studio at the Roman villa and shares images of towering female sculptures from field trips in Umbria; and journeys through a giant’s back into a manmade grotto.