Alla V. Kolpakova

Alla Vladimirovna Kolpakova is a mathematical textile artist who has exhibited across Europe in Russia, Ireland, France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Notable exhibitions include multiple solo shows at Loft Project Etaji in St. Petersburg and collective showcases at the University of Galway in Ireland, Galerie Artexpertise in Cannes, France, The Crypt Gallery in London, and Galleria Mentana in Florence. 

The interdisciplinary textile works of Alla Kolpakova incorporate both light design and mathematics as well as being inspired by Eastern arabesques and the Tudor architectural style. Through crocheting and laced flowers dipped in gelatin, Alla creates asymmetrical and symmetrical forms which are a manipulation of observed shapes and items within a presentable space. These complex patterned-methods are typically formed based on the geometry of fauna and foliage. For example, she will create a pattern of six-petal flowers rotated by 30 degrees and conjoining the form with 60 degrees for clovers, creating a hexagonal mosaic design resulting from mathematical formations of triangle, rhombus, and hexagon.

Drawing patterns from the animal and plant world as well as human anatomy, Alla Kolpakova creates morphological studies which bridge connections between forms. In such instances, she will highlight the patterns of a brain coral with the formations of the human brain, the similarities between frog eggs and breasts, or the cross-section of a banana tree with the form of a spine. Her methods vary and can employ practices as complex as combining crochet, satin stitch embroidery, and Brazilian embroidery to create a piece. Each approach to the textile works entails solving a mathematical puzzle, such as mix and matching elements or alternating the point and view as well as the angled perception of the art. In essence, the goal of the artist is to ground the audience into composed reality formations, as opposed to an interactive world which is synthetic and shares no commonalities with biological matter, in contrast to the organically-based fiber materials. These three-dimensional compositions essentially speak to the poetry of mathematics in relation to biologically-derived and inspired configurations. Alla Kolpakova’s textiles are especially most poignant when combined with light design, as when she illuminates the spherical textile works from within, she essentially creates an illusory prismatic effect, as the light is manipulated by the color distortions of the fiber material. Such a theatrical display applies deeper conceptual conveyance, such as the manipulation of surface and light to create interactive-installation features with the textile materials. 

Garden Zephyr (pictured above) is a textile work using a conceptual hat design. Containing complex mathematical and angular-planned formulations, Garden Zephyr reveals the complex musing of manipulating the form of a flower to create human-interpreted and composed formats of observed nature. The textile piece ranges in multi-faceted applications from creating flower interpretations with 5,6, and 7 petals at various intervals in order to establish the thoroughly intricate illusory effect. 

A deeply descriptive and complex artist, Alla Kolpakova creates interdisciplinary textile installations and fragments which bridge the connection between observed reality, human interpretation of nature, and applying both natural and formulated intricately-faceted approaches to mathematical perspectives. In these three-dimensional compositions, we will find a realm of linear, angular, and geometrical harmony akin to an advanced visualized form of ballet, opera, or classical music. Full of balance, refinement, and conceptual references to the elaborate study of nature, the textile works will instill a sense of meditative musings to the audience indulging the cataclysmic web of extendedly-altered composure.

https://www.behance.net/allakolpakova