Ciphers of Nature
CIPHERS OF NATURE — New Works by Nadia Ryzhakova
7 – 29 November 2025 | Aleph Contemporary, Stroud
Aleph Contemporary presents Ciphers of Nature, a solo exhibition by Nadia Ryzhakova, 7 to 29 November 2025.
The works explore hidden patterns in nature. Ryzhakova begins each painting by pouring liquid colour onto the canvas. Gravity, air and chance shape the paint. The results evoke river deltas, tree branches, cloud formations, moss textures.
She refers to the Chinese concept of Li — inherent rhythms of leaf veins, water ripples, stone crystals. The move from chaos to order is central. Once the paint dries into one fixed surface, she steps in. She does not impose structure but translates what emerges. Often children appear in these scenes, representing curiosity and the capacity to see wonder in what others might call randomness.
Each canvas is a journey from fluid formlessness to form, from abstraction to narrative. Viewers are invited to observe nature’s unseen forces and recognise in those patterns something universal and human.
Open Evening: Friday 15 November, 6–8pm. Gallery open Fridays and Saturdays 10am–4pm and other times by appointment.
Venue: Aleph Contemporary, Station Road, Stroud, GL5 3AR. Website: www.alephcontemporary.com
Artist Biography
Nadia Ryzhakova (b. 1982, USSR) is a contemporary British painter. Nadia studied Fine Art at the Stroganov Academy of Arts in Moscow, graduating with a MA in Monumental-decorative Painting in 2009. Upon moving to the UK in 2010, she earned an MA in Culture Policy and Management at the City University, London.
Initially, she gained recognition as a digital artist, which included a notable collaboration with the Victoria & Albert Museum and interview on Sky News. In 2016, Nadia returned to traditional canvas painting, winning the John Palmer Painting Competition award and receiving a feature in the Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. Most recently, in 2024, she completed the Turps Correspondence course at Turps Banana Art School.
Nadia currently resides in Stonehouse, painting in her studio at the Painswick Centre, where she explores themes of childhood and nostalgia through a blend of paint
pouring and realistic figures.
Nadia's recent works reinterpret her own childhood experiences and serve as a way to process personal traumas. Her paintings are characterised by organic streams of cellular and vacuolar shapes that seamlessly merge with realistic figures, creating a visual language that speaks to the compression of time and the process of
remembering.
Artist Statement
Nadia Ryzhakova’s paintings represent organic streams of cellular and vacuolar forms, which ultimately dissolve into a biomorphic flow, where figures and background blend seamlessly. This merging and distortion of space can be seen as compressed time, suggesting a condensed, abstract remembrance that serves as a way to process personal traumas.
This background is the connective tissue between the physical world and the unseen, sometimes visible only through close examination. What appears abstract takes on vaguely familiar shapes, being on the edge of a play of the mind and the artist’s intention. Through this tissue, childhood images predominantly sprout. This transformation is the central theme in the artist’s work, where she reinterprets her own childhood experiences. The artist uses images of her children, symbolising a bridge to her younger self. This perspective returns to a view of the world where nothing is predetermined, where no rules bind, and life follows its own laws.
This unbounded, unrestricted gaze gives a sense of freedom and possibility. It encourages the viewers to look beyond their current circumstances, providing a source of hope especially in today's complex and often challenging world.
