Sculptural ensembles

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In her room-size installations, Gladkova releases the sculptural potential of construction paper in a paradoxical process that she likens to solving a puzzle.

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Drawing on her mathematical training, she obsessively applies the experimental nature of constructive mathematical proof to her artistic process, only to create her precarious groupings of seven lumpy forms. 

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To begin these works, Gladkova cuts the paper into basic geometric pieces. Applying plaster mixed with glue, she shapes the elements into wobbly structures and props them with wooden planks. 

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Arranging and rearranging the forms, she adds a time-based variable, limiting her actions to the interval it takes the plaster to dry. Working quickly, she bends and inverts the fast-hardening surfaces into new forms. She tears these structures apart, wrestling with them as they collapse. Then she rebuilds them.  

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​When the puzzle is solved, the work is finished: an ensemble of lumpy sculptures stand on their own. Their irregular surfaces refract against each other in a play of lines and color that enhances the distinctive geometry of each one.