Arielle Tesoriero on Meatball Subs, Making Weird Art and Being Delusional
Interview by Maggie Mott
From horse girl memories to meatball-armed women, Arielle Tesoriero creates a hyper-femme, emotionally raw universe where food, femininity, and self-loathing collide in candy colored chaos. In this candid conversation with Maggie Mott, the multi-disciplinary artist spills on her obsession with nostalgia, growing up conservative, and why “Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado should score her life.
ARIELLE TESORIERO: I realized that I ordered a meatball sub, which is ironic. But I just love a meatball sub.
MAGGIE MOTT: I think that this pizzeria may have been the first place I've ever gotten eggplant Parmesan from. My grandma would make me come here before she died and she would make us pray the whole time.
ARIELLE: I don't like eggplant. It tastes like you're eating like an alien.
MAGGIE: I can see that.
ARIELLE: I'm really curious what you are going to ask me.
MAGGIE: I've got some great questions and I planned something fun for the end. I think your gonna love it.
ARIELLE: I'm excited.
MAGGIE: So, first things first, what's the process of making your paintings and sculptures?
ARIELLE: A lot of the stuff I see on social media will inspire me, along with my peers, and of course art history. I see something, whether it's an image or an audio, it could be from pop culture or something someone has posted on TikTok, and because my vision is so direct, it's easy for me to pick up things that connect and I can bounce ideas off myself. I use Pinterest a lot. I love making mood boards. I’m especially interested in symbols from my childhood. I’m the kind of person that has to dedicate a lot of time to my studio, or the idea’s never become reality. I make a lot of studies, and I talk to my peers and ask them what works and what doesn't. I work partially from my imagination and partially from references. And then I come to my final piece. So, it takes a while for me to come up with my final idea, because I have so many things I'm always thinking about. Sometimes I take an idea I had months ago and then I come back to it later and rework it. There needs to be an equal amount of planning and spontaneity.
MAGGIE: How did growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland influence you?
ARIELLE: There used to be this sign that the Somerset County Health Department put up in big red letters, and it said, "abstinence is the only form of birth control." So the very first painting I made in my undergrad was called "Abstinence Only.” It was of my friend Meredith sucking on a lollipop on one side, and on the other side was a banana.
MAGGIE: I think I remember that.
ARIELLE: I couldn’t stop thinking about that sign. And somehow, my brain jumped, and I started thinking about how certain imagery is viewed as being sexual, just like how women are inherently sexualized. Like, why is a banana next to a woman a sexual image? As I got older, I started thinking more about how food is perceived as gendered and what food means to different groups of people, and why we sexualize food. Growing up, my parents were really conservative because they were teen parents. They were overprotective and strict. I think that it made me more interested in exploring my sexuality as a young adult because I felt like I never had normal experiences. Now that I’m older, I understand where they were coming from, but as a teenager, I felt like I was missing out on a lot of things. But because of that, my exploration of sexuality and what that means as a woman began to transcend into my art.
MAGGIE: I felt the same way growing up. Your work has always had these ongoing themes of power, food, and sexuality. But how does this translate to the hyper stylized world you've created?
ARIELLE: I'm drawn to things that remind me of my childhood, so I just feel gravitated toward that imagery. When I stopped thinking about what other people wanted, all of these images came out like word vomit. They are comforting to me, these weird girls that scare everyone else, or make them feel some kind of way. I don’t find them to be scary at all because I live with them everyday. But I don’t really understand what’s happening until the end. That goes for the formal and conceptual aspects of my work. Even though I do a lot of prep, it’s basically a warm up. I never know what’s going to come out next. I follow my intuition so it never comes out the way I originally thought. It often makes me question my entire practice. That’s why it’s so hard for me to write an artist statement and I’m always changing it. Because when I question what I’m doing I lose sight of creating. I have a big imagination and I love being delusional. I think that works in my favor, but it also gives me anxiety.
Vixens of Veal Parmigiana Vocally Verify Their Meat Vajazzling, 2021
MAGGIE: This leads into the next question I was going to ask, who are the girls you portray? Are they reflections of yourself?
ARIELLE: The works are all me, even if I don't necessarily want them to be. My girls are always fighting, and they hate each other. It's just a reflection of how I feel about myself. I feel like I'm being watched all the time. This is where the idea of multiple selves comes in. The subjects in my work, whether they plainly look like me or not, are figures born from repression. I try to connect my work to things other people deal with, and how patriarchal structures affect women. But when I go to sit down to paint, all I'm feeling in the moment is how much I hate myself. That's basically the root of all my art. And then afterwards, I can reflect, "well why do I feel like this?” So my work, just like most peoples, is kind of like therapy and self-reflection. I like the idea of other people being able to place themselves in my shoes. And that's the cool thing about making characters that don't necessarily look like anyone. It's easier for someone to imagine themselves as someone who doesn't look like a real person. Currently though, I’m making figures that look more similarly to me.
MAGGIE: I think that's why furries exist.
ARIELLE: Well, I'm not a furry but I think people get confused because I was doing women that were part animal. I mean, I did use to pretend to be a horse.
MAGGIE: I got a French fry caught in my throat. I love your sculptures. I love how your surreal ideas are brought into the world as something tangible. It makes them even more striking. I know sculpture is a newer medium for you, so why did you want to take on that challenge?
ARIELLE: That's a great question because I didn't give a single fuck about sculpture until I was in grad school. I hated it because it was too hard. But when I got to the Academy I took an unusual materials class and it made me realize there isn't one way to sculpt. It was so open ended, and it felt like I had no limits. I was put in a situation where I realized I could do whatever I wanted. Once I took away the mental boundaries, everything came to me very fast. The same thing happened to me with my painting process, which is why I switched from painting more representationally to doing these weird characters. But I became fascinated with sculpture because I learned to admire the talent and dedication it requires versus painting. And I'm not saying one is harder than the other. But I wanted to challenge myself and bring my characters into the real world. I love the materiality of sculpture, and I became interested in how material can change the meaning of an artwork. Now I'm in a position where I can't afford to keep making sculptures because I'm too broke. I'm also too broke to paint.
{both laughing}
If I can’t have love I want power, 2022
MAGGIE: Your studio is like a time capsule. It feels like you are just growing into being a teenager — it has these beautiful pink walls and girly decorations, but it also has mature elements, that can sometimes be aggressive. What are your favorite intimate objects that inspire your work?
ARIELLE: Anything from the 80s, 90s or early 2000s. And I especially love toys and pop culture, like Hannah Montana. I referenced her in my painting “Drama Queen” which is hung in my studio.
MAGGIE: Yes! And you painted the Bratz TV!
ARIELLE: I HAD THAT TV! AND IT WAS THROWN AWAY! Don’t get me started. I’m still mad to this day. I look for trinkets at the thrift store that were things I used to have as a kid. I'm looking for physical media, clothes, accessories. My favorite necklace I got from Depop with the letter A? I got it for 10$. I painted that in “Vegans. Virgins. Valentines.” I try to keep it a mix of what I'm into at the current moment, in terms of fashion, hair and personal style, but I also incorporate elements of my childhood. Everything in my studio is meant to keep me in that circle of ideas. I try to keep it curated. I also have all my favorite books and movies. Hole’s “Live Through This” has been a huge driving factor in my work this past year.
MAGGIE: It's a fantastic album.
ARIELLE: It's so good. It also inspired my last single, Worst Angel Cake, which I wrote after watching this YouTube documentary about Courtney Love. Being able to latch onto an album as inspiration really works for me. When I’m painting, I play the same music over and over, the same shit I’ve been listening to since I was 12. I can’t listen to new music because then I can’t focus enough. But if I throw on Katy Perry’s “One of the Boys” or Taylor Swift’s “Fearless,” I know I’m knocking out some great work. If there was a soundtrack to my life, I would have “Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado be the opening song.
Drama Queen, 2023
MAGGIE: Ok gear up. We are gonna do rapid fire questions. You have to pick one or the other, are you ready?
ARIELLE: Oh my god! I’m scared. But yes.
MAGGIE: Breakfast or dinner?
ARIELLE: Breakfast.
MAGGIE: Hot or cold?
ARIELLE: Hot.
MAGGIE: Sweet or salty?
ARIELLE: Sweet.
MAGGIE: Soft or hard?
ARIELLE: Hard.
MAGGIE: Edward or Jacob?
ARIELLE: Edward...duh.
MAGGIE: Horror or comedy?
ARIELLE: Comedy.
MAGGIE: Tv or movie?
ARIELLE: Movie.
MAGGIE: Christmas or Halloween?
ARIELLE: Christmas.
MAGGIE: Courtney Love or Lady Gaga?
ARIELLE: I have to say Lady Gaga.
MAGGIE: Pink or blue?
ARIELLE: Pink. It's my favorite color.
