ARIANA PAPADEMETROPOULOS

@ariana
papademetropoulos
Born and raised in Los Angeles, artist Ariana Papademetropoulos has exhibited her work in Los Angeles, New York City, New Orleans, Mexico City and Berlin. Her work is in private collections in all major US cities as well as Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Venezuela. Ariana paints from found, vintage images which she manipulates through distortion, drawing out new psychological implications and modern context. See her work here.

@likethecolor
Teal Thomsen is a photographer living in LA. She works as Programs Coordinator at The Lucie Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to championing photography. See her portraits, travel and lifestyle photography here.

T-shirts can be all things to people, from a status symbol to a memory trigger.
What do they represent to you?
Just that, I guess. T-shirts are a means of expressing whatever you are into in an inexpensive and nonaggressive way.

Do you recall your first favorite T-shirt?
Yes, I still have it even though I can’t fit into it. I was really into bugs as a kid. It is a white T-shirt from the Natural History Museum with glow-in-the-dark beetles and bugs printed onto it. I’m wearing it in most of my childhood photos.

How would you describe your style?
I never go through phases necessarily, but I have a large closet and depending what mood I’m in, I’ll dress accordingly—sometimes Victorian, sometimes disco, sometimes I look like I’m right out of Clueless.

What inspires you?
Everything. I like a very small and specific amount of things, but pulled from every genre, place and era. I like to be open minded as I never know when something will trigger me. It’s nice to keep things interesting.

What do you most like about your line of work?
I really don’t know what else I could be doing. I know this is what I’m best at and where I’m supposed to be at the moment.

What’s next?
Lots of painting. Showing in Mexico City in February, too, which should be fun.