Down the Rabbit Hole is what happens when two Texas artists with very different instincts share an exhibit. Alli Koch, based in Dallas, draws in bold black-and-white line work, the kind of clean graphic florals that look effortless and are not. Ilya Tinker, based in Austin, is a non-binary fabricator and sculptor who "merges seemingly incompatible worlds to create tranquil, poetic images," with a finish so precise it reads as a signature. One paints the world. The other builds the thing at the center of it.
Koch founded AlliK Design in 2014 and has since published more than a dozen art books with Blue Star Press, including "How to Draw Modern Florals," her best-known title. Her murals cover walls across Dallas and beyond, she has collaborated with Lululemon, Kacey Musgraves, and Kendra Scott, she has shown with the Galleria Dallas artist collective, and she hosts a podcast with her father called "Breakfast with Sis." Tinker's work spans sculpture, media art, and mixed media, carries strong feminist references, and has been featured at FutureTBD; they also have ties to San Francisco's Exploratorium through its Tinkering Studio.
At Hopscotch San Antonio, Tinker built a dichroic sculpture, made from material that shifts color depending on where you are standing. Take a step and it changes again. Koch painted the world around it: a black-and-white illustrated world with easter eggs hidden in the line work. The sculpture is the portal. The mural is the place it leads. The hidden details reward anyone who slows down and looks closely, and they reward repeat visitors most of all.
The name is the artists’ own. Find the sculpture first, then find what Koch tucked into the walls around it.
