Sergei Isupov: Hidden Messages

Sergei Isupov’s glazed porcelain sculptures impress the viewer with their oversized scale, remarkable craftsmanship, and original sense of form, before one even begins to absorb the work’s content. Exquisitely painted with Isupov’s peculiar and fascinating imagery, the work is created with traditional slab-building techniques, pushing ceramic material to its limits. The Russian-born artist (b. 1963), trained in Ukraine and Estonia, exhibits new work, some in his largest scale to date, accompanied by painted environmental installation components that support, surround, and provide a framework for the sculptures.

By morphing together humans and animals, creating dimensionally illusionistic works, and embedding secret scenes within them, Isupov creates multilayered artworks that challenge viewers’ perception of reality. Isupov speaks to this ambiguity, stating “I’m not sure if I create them, perhaps they create me.” Each work has layers of mystery, and as one is solved, another appears, challenging the viewer to interpret the multiple messages within.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website