Summary<\/p>\n
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\nThe exhibition features a 14-foot inhabitable aquarium where visitors can recline inside a glass enclosure accompanied by a custom soundtrack by Nicolas Godin of Air<\/p>\n
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Marking her first solo show in France, the presentation at Thaddaeus Ropac Paris explores \u201cCalifornian Occultism\u201d through surrealist paintings and iridescent telephone booths<\/p>\n
Ariana Papademetropoulos<\/a> has brought her West Coast brand of \u201cCalifornian Occultism\u201d to the heart of the Marais. Marking her first solo exhibition in France, Glass Slipper is now on view at Thaddaeus Ropac<\/a> Paris, transforming the gallery into a surrealist environment where hyperrealism and vaporwave aesthetics collide. <\/p>\n Central to the exhibition is \u201cWater Based Treatment,\u201d a massive, inhabitable aquarium that serves as a \u201cheterotopia\u201d within the gallery walls. Visitors are invited to climb inside the glass enclosure, reclining on a built-in mattress while listening to an ambient soundtrack composed by Nicolas Godin of the French duo Air. Surrounded by a shoal of shimmering \u201ckissing fish,\u201d the installation functions as both an intimate sanctuary and a theatrical stage.\n<\/p>\n Beyond the central tank, Papademetropoulos\u2019s new large-scale paintings collapse the boundaries between interior and exterior worlds. Drawing on references ranging from *The Wizard of Oz* to Jungian psychology, the works depict domestic symbols\u2014gingham dining chairs and Louis XV-style armchairs\u2014adrift in volatile natural landscapes.\n<\/p>\n Upstairs, the artist moves into the realm of the \u201cunapologetically artificial.\u201d Three iridescent, shell-shaped telephone booths\u2014inspired by the vintage interiors of the Tropicana hotel-casino in Las Vegas\u2014hang from the walls. When the receivers are lifted, visitors can listen in on intimate recorded exchanges between the artist and her medium, further blurring the line between the physical world and the spectral. Complementing these are small-scale works depicting microwaves in various stages of combustion, reworking classical motifs like Correggio\u2019s \u201cJupiter and Io\u201d into the language of modern appliances.\n<\/p>\n By grounding quantum uncertainty and ancient mysticism within the theme, Glass Slipper reveals what Papademetropoulos calls the \u201cfissures of the imagination,\u201d those moments where the familiar world begins to crack and a magical world takes hold.\n<\/p>\n Glass Slipper is on view at Thaddaeus Ropac Paris Marais through April 11, 2026.\n<\/p>\n Thaddaeus Ropac
7 Rue Debelleyme
75003 Paris, France<\/p>\n