Sergei Isupov’s solo exhibition, Head On, will run through March 3, 2016 at the de Menil Gallery at Groton School in Groton. It features Isupov’s ceramic sculpture, exploring the literal and metaphoric form of the human head. Selections from Isupov’s recent work are combined with pieces from the span of his career, to illustrate a progression and continuance of ideas about the relationships between the head, face, and body.

Through this exhibition Isupov wants viewers to contemplate the head and imagine the invisible body, continuing the story on their own and as their own. Isupov’s surrealist works pulse with life in an animated dialog between surface and form. The heads are painted with detailed imagery depicting emotional exchanges between men and women. It is easy to get drawn in by allusions to romance, or mysteries, and then our own imaginations finish the cycle by personal associations. “I chose the focus of this show to be the form of the head, both as a physical object and as the subject to convey human experience,” Isupov says. “The subject matter I address on the surface through painted images draws from stories first experienced, then remembered, and finally told.”

The de Menil Gallery presents Sergei Isupov in HEAD ON. Located at the Groton School, The de Menil Gallery is a state-of-the-art gallery with approximately 900 square feet of exhibition space. 

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The Installation displays 20 artworks, including two works that are among the largest pieces produced by Isupov in an exhibition.

“Head On“, 2016, an 9 x 11′ Site-specific Wall Painting

“Risen”, 2016, an 8′ Multi-Part Sculpture.

Additional pieces were pulled from the artist’s archives and range in dates from 1995 – 2016.

HEAD ON

RISEN

Public Lecture and Discussion with the Artist
The public is invited to an Artist’s Lecture on Wednesday, January 27, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. at the de Menil
Gallery. Isupov will share his exploration of the theme, Head On, followed by a discussion.

Sergei Isupov is an Estonian-American sculptor internationally known for his highly detailed, narrative works. Isupov explores painterly figure-ground relationships, creating surreal sculptures with a complex artistic vocabulary that combines two- and three-dimensional narratives and animal/human hybrids. He works in ceramic using traditional hand building and sculpting techniques to combine surface and form with narrative painting using stains and clear glaze.

“Everything that surrounds and excites me is automatically processed and transformed into an artwork. The essence of my work is not in the medium or the creative process, but in the human beings and their incredible diversity. When I think of myself and my works, I’m not sure I create them, perhaps they create me.”

Isupov has a long international resume with work included in numerous collections and exhibitions, including the National Gallery of Australia, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (TX), Museum of Arts and Design (NY), Racine Art Museum (WI), Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MA), and the Erie Art Museum (PA), at which he presented selected works in a 20-year career survey Hidden Messages in 2017 and Surreal Promenade in 2019 at the Russian Museum of Art (MN).

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