To the artist hidden in these pages, math is everywhere and nowhere. Tatiana wants to explore a new way of infographic drawing by creating these abstract art pieces based on mathematical simplicity and harmony. meet tatiana plakhova and her work : complexity graphics.
THE ARCHIVE : You graduated from Moscow State University with a Master in Social Psychology … tell us the steps you took to get where you are now.
TATIANA : My first infographic work was visualizing sociometry tests in a school I’ve been working at. We were giving 3 questions to the kids, something like: “which 3 persons from your class would you invite to your birthday party?”. So at the end we had a real social map of the class, we could see popular and unpopular kids and could help unpopular ones to be more integrated into the social life. That experience really inspired me both as a psychologist and a designer because even when I wasn’t familiar with some classes – I could see their social diagram. Then we could see the dynamics year by year, amazing – you can actually see how important visualization can be.
TA : What part of your job do you enjoy the most? Which one the least?
T : When I see how some new form or image is created and I feel truth in it.
TA : Tell us about your working process.
T : In the beginning I make many, many, many elements. Then I piece each of these elements into larger and larger compositions that I would describe as constructing linguistics. I make letters then I make words then I make phrases. It’s like linguistic work. When I have this library of elements, I just play around.
TA : Do you have a favorite project? If yes, tell us why it is your favorite.
T : I would say that Noosphere is one of the most interesting collections that I’m planning to continue.
TA : In your installation “Antrum” the viewers can interact with your work… could you imagine working on a project with a fashion designer where the clothes would create this interaction with your work? (Where the clothes could replace the membrane you are using in this project, for example). If yes, describe what images/shapes come to your mind when thinking about such a project.
T: What a wonderful question! Yes I’d love to do something like that. And about the style, I have a kimono collection, which shows what fashion style I see for the garnments. Also it could be more futuristic.
TA : Where do you want to be in 5 years from now?
T : I want to work on exhibitions, shows and fashion. So i hope to travel with my art and get more and more inspiration.
TA : What was the best feedback you ever got from someone?
T : I’m so happy when kids and really old people enjoy my Work. The funniest feedback was “do you have a religion? Because I’m in”. And the most touching was a comment that was written by a person after some tragedy, who wrote me that my art helped him in his really heavy moment. As a psychologist I was touched.
