It’s certainly not common to find a married couple gets so deeply involved in a form of art they’re both passionate about. Meet Ani and Andrey Abakumova, a young couple from Romashkovo in the Moscow region of Russia.
The awesome teamwork of the duo in creating string art is for all to see. Whereas Ani physically creates string art of famous paintings, Andrey takes care of the digital aspects and the calculations for their patterns. Theirs is a delightful combination of the physical and the digital.
Ani wouldn’t have created her brand of string art without the support of her husband, who, according to her, is “a very cool mathematics genius”. Andrey’s contribution is inventing his own innovative algorithm that enables Ani to create string art replicas with threads of all possible colors.
Ani’s process of creating string art involves winding colored strings around nails hammered around a plywood board. It’s Andrey’s innovative algorithm that enables her to choose from a wide spectrum of colors that overlap and overlay to provide realistic representations of her art subjects. She displays the process on her YouTube channel and products at her website, art.nitka.
In string art, the usual practice is using only the black thread or threads colored in CMYK, that is, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (black). Ani initially started her string art by using black threads using algorithms. However, she deviated from it once her husband created colored patterns of images based on computer calculations. This enabled her to use threads of all possible hues in her string art.
Ani’s unique art is a result of years of experimenting. What’s so amazing about her art is the masterly combination of colored threads, that are attached to the nails along the edges, to make an image. The couple hit upon the idea of creating such artworks by applying technology to it. They used the paintings of old masterpieces, such as Mona Lisa, portraits of other beautiful women, and suchlike art.
Just to give an idea, an artwork of 73.5 centimeters (29 inches) diameter requires 8,000 lines of threads that measure a whopping four kilometers in length! The couple is aiming for some big creations measuring 1×1 meter (3.2×3.2 feet) and 1.5×1.5 meters (4.9×4.9 feet) for their personal exhibitions in two modern art galleries in Moscow. They’re also open to the idea of displaying their works in exhibitions abroad.
The best part is, one can order one’s favorite artwork for string art images or get one’s own portrait made through Saatchi Art or Art Nitka. You also get to choose the shape and dimensions of the works you desire.
Ani and Andrey’s string art that uses technology is certainly one of its kind. Little wonder it’s eliciting an excited response on the internet.
Ani Abakumova: Instagram
Imposible hacerlo sin guía numérica… aun sin embargo felicitaciones