SERGEI ISUPOV

Estonian-American, b. 1963 Stavropole, USSR,
lives and works between Cummington, MA, USA and Tallinn, Estonia

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 ceramics using traditional hand-building and sculpting techniques to combine surface and form with narrative painting using colored stains highlighted with clear glaze.

Isupov has a long international resume with work included in numerous collections and exhibitions including the National Gallery of Australia, Museum Angewandte in Kunst, Germany, and in the US at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Crocker Art Museum, Everson Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of Fine Arts–Boston, Museum of Fine Arts–Houston, Mint Museum of Art, and Racine Art Museum. In 2017, his solo exhibition at The Erie Art Museum presented selected works in a 20-year career survey titled Hidden Messages, followed by Surreal Promenade e, another survey solo in 2019 at the Russian Museum of Art in Minnesota. Focusing on stand-alone figures and couplets, Isupov exhibited solo shows, Alliances (2023) at Thorne-Sagendoph Art Gallery at Keene State College, Ancestor (2024), in the Anderson Gallery at Bridgewater State University, and Moments from Eternity (2025), at District Clay Center in Washington, DC.

Often called an erotic Surrealist for his daring representations of sexuality, relationships, and human encounters, Isupov merges his subject matter with ceramic sculptural form.

Drawing on personal experience and human observation, he creates work that integrates autobiography with fictional narratives. While the robust and racially distinct facial traits make each sculpture unique, they also make the body of work capable of conveying universal experiences. The bold colour palette, heavily tattooed faces, and textured surfaces relate these works to the aesthetics of traditional Russian art, as well as to contemporary styles of illustration.

Sergei Isupov is represented by Ferrin Contemporary.