He graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Art College (2004), the Faculty of Painting of the Moscow State Art Institute named after V. I. Surikov in the workshop of theatrical and artistic decoration (2010), as well as the creative workshop of theatrical and decorative art under the direction of M. M. Kurilko-Ryumin. Since 2013, he has been painting and composition at the Surikov Moscow State Art Institute, since 2020 he has been heading the workshop at this institute as a professor. In 2017, he completed an internship at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli (Naples, Italy). Since 2016, Alexander has been a member of the Moscow Union of Artists (MOSKh), and since 2019 he has been a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts.
A.V. Kupalyan also works in the direction of scenography.
2023 production designer of the opera Onegin at the Nizhny Novgorod State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after A. S. Pushkin.
2021 Worked on the set design and costumes for Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera The Oprichnik for the Mikhailovsky Theatre
2019 Production designer of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's opera Iolanta at the Helikon Opera and participant of the International Tchaikovsky Music Festival.