HEADS & BUSTS
LARGE SCULPTURES & INSTALLATIONS

“Obstacles”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 58.5 x 38 x 18″.

“Coffee and Milk”, 2020, porcelain, slip, glaze, 59.5 x 26 x 16″.
ABOUT
(b. 1963) Stavropole, Ukraine, lives and works in 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 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).
Isupov teaches workshops and lectures internationally at conferences, universities, museums and art centers. Important to his career have been the short and long-term artist residences at Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, MT), The International Ceramics Studio (Kecskemét, Hungary), and Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center (Skælskør, Denmark).
Isupov graduated from the Art Institute of Tallinn, Estonia with a BA/MFA in Ceramics in 1990. He immigrated to the United States in 1994, first in Louisville (KY) which was followed by 6 years in Richmond (VA). Isupov has lived and worked at Project Art in Cummington (MA) since 2006. Starting in 2010, Sergei, along with his wife Kadri Pärnamets, and their daughter Roosi divide their year between Estonia and the USA. Isupov is represented by Ferrin Contemporary.
“My work portrays characters placed in situations that are drawn from my imagination but based on my life experiences. My art works capture a composite of fleeting moments, hand gestures, eye movements that follow and reveal the sentiments expressed. These details are all derived from actual observations but are gathered or collected over my lifetime. Through the drawn images and sculpted forms, I capture faces, body types and use symbolic elements to compose, in the same way as you might create a collage. These ideas drift and migrate throughout my work without direct regard to specific individuals, chronology or geography. Universalism is implied and personal interpretation expected. Through my work I get to report about and explore human encounters, comment on the relationships between man and woman, and eventually their sexual union that leads to the final outcome – the passing on of DNA which is the ultimate collection – a combined set of genes and a new life, represented in the child.”
Often called an erotic Surrealist for his daring representations of sexuality, relationships, and human encounter, Isupov takes narrative subject matter and merges it with ceramic sculptural form. Drawing on personal experience, and human observation, he creates works that integrate autobiography with universal narrative. He states, “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.” While the robust, and racially distinct facial traits make each sculpture unique, they also make the body of work capable of representing universal experiences. The bold color 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.
CURRENT + RECENT EXHIBITIONS
COOL CLAY: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Ceramics | Crocker Art Museum
July 21, 2019 – July 21, 2021
SURREAL PROMENADE: Sergei Isupov at Russian Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN
February 9th- June 9th, 2019.
SELECT PAST EXHIBITIONS
- COMPOSING FORM, June 22-August 24, 2019
- DIRECTIONS: Sergei Isupov
- NEW YORK CERAMIC & GLASS FAIR 2018
- ALICE IN WONDERLAND
- SERGEI ISUPOV: Selections from Hidden Messages
- NEW YORK CERAMICS & GLASS FAIR 2017
- SERGEI ISUPOV: The Rising
- RE—Reanimate, Repair, Mend and Meld
- MENDED WAYS | The Art of Inventive Repair
- SERGEI ISUPOV: Head On
- NEW YORK CERAMICS & GLASS FAIR 2016
- SERGEI ISUPOV at Kasher | Potamkin
- NCECA 2015 Conference: “Lively Experiments”
- EVERYTHING IS ALL WHITE: The New Year Show
- A CLAY BESTIARY
- PROMENADE: New Work by Sergei Isupov
- HERE AND THERE
- JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER 40th ANNIVERSARY
- RAM COLLECTION FOCUS: Sergei Isupov
- SERGEI ISUPOV: Call of the Wild
- INCITEFUL CLAY
- BODY & SOUL
- CLAY BODIES: A Group Exhibition of Figural Ceramic Sculpture
- ANIMAL STORIES
- EXPOSED: Heads, Busts & Nudes
- SERGEI ISUPOV: Hidden Messages
- THE NEW YORK CERAMICS AND GLASS FAIR 2014
FERRIN CONTEMPORARY PARTICIPATES IN CERF+ BENEFIT AUCTION
‘Composing Form’ in Stowe Today, July 18, 2019
UPCOMING EVENTS
CERAMICS ARE EVERYWHERE
MIDSUMMER AT PROJECT ART 2018
MASTER WORKS from PRIVATE COLLECTIONS On View & Available Online
MARA SUPERIOR featured at Project Art during HOST
ARTIST NEWS: SERGEI ISUPOV SUMMER 2018
Summer Events at Ferrin Contemporary & Project Art 2018
Berkshire Eagle: Ferrin Contemporary Gallery ‘It’s about some sort of transition or searching’
ARTIST NEWS: SERGEI ISUPOV shows and workshops
Sabbath: The 2017 Dorothy Saxe Invitational
ARTIST NEWS: SERGEI ISUPOV | Fire Sculpture, Workshop, Exhibitions
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST: Alice in Wonderland
Building 13 Open House at MASS MoCA
Renwick Alliance: Berkshire Tour in October
Ceramics: Art and Perception “Family Affair”
“It is inevitable. As we watch an artist’s work change over time, we also watch the artist’s life unfold.” In his review, “Family Affair: Isupov and Pärnamets,” Anthony Stellacio brings insight…
The Charlotte Observer: Ready, sculpt, FIRE!
FireFest, now in its fourth year, is celebrated at STARworks in Star, NC. Each year, it focuses on clay, glass, and metal as they are transformed by intense heat and the hand of…
RE—Reanimate, Repair, Mend and Meld
RE—REANIMATE, REPAIR, MEND AND MELD co-curated by Paul Scott and Andrew Baseman a group show of work by contemporary ceramic artists explores the issues of conservation, restoration, over-consumption, reuse, and…
Juxtapoz: New Ceramic Work by Sergei Isupov
In their November 15, 2015 post, Juxtapoz highlights Sergei Isupov. Click here to view post and gallery. Click here to view more work by Sergi Isupov.
Lowell Sun: Sergei Isupov in “Head On” at de Menil Gallery
On the Lowell Sun’s website, Nancye Tuttle’s blog from January 18, 2016, includes local Art Picks. On her list is Sergei Isupov’s “Head On” exhibit at the de Menil Gallery…
Sergei Isupov in “Head On” at de Menil Gallery
Sergei Isupov’s solo exhibition, Head On, will run through March 3, 2016 at the de Menil Gallery at Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts. It features Isupov’s ceramic sculpture, exploring the…
Sergei Isupov at Korean Ceramic Biennale 2015
Sergei Isupov was a featured artist at The 8th Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale 2015 in the Gyeonggi-do Province of Korea. Work by artists from 74 countries was presented at three…
Family Affair: Sergei Isupov, Kadri Pärnamets, and Roosi Isupov
FAMILY AFFAIR: Sergei Isupov, Kadri Pärnamets, and Roosi Isupov April 25 through May 25, 2015 Independent Art Projects on the MASS MoCA campus in North Adams, MA Family Affair features painted porcelain…
Sergei Isupov in Hi Fructose
“Sergei Isupov’s Surreal Ceramics Combine Paintings with Sculpture” by Anna Carey in Hi Fructose, The New Contemporary Art Magazine. “Russian-born artist Sergei Isupov investigates binaries in human relationships — male and…
A Clay Bestiary VIRTUAL TOUR on video
Video offers another chance to view and enjoy A Clay Bestiary. A Clay Bestiary, a recent show at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey, brought together a diverse body of ceramic…
Ferrin Contemporary presents Made in China at New York Ceramics Fair
CONTACT Leslie Ferrin, Director, Ferrin Contemporary info@ferrincontemporary.com | 413.446.0614 For Immediate Release: Ferrin Contemporary presents Made in China: The New Export Ware at the New York Ceramics and Glass Fair,…
#Ferrincontemporaryontheroad | REFLECT-ED Miami 2014
With this post, we launch a new section of the Ferrin Contemporary website with reportage from Miami. Follow along as director Leslie Ferrin documents the objects, people, and experiences relating…
#Ferrincontemporaryontheroad | SOFA Chicago 2014
Leslie Ferrin reports from Chicago, November 2014 Returning from SOFA Chicago this year, I was asked again and again, “How was it?” Now in its 21st year, people wanted to know about…
Isupov in Hi-Fructose
“He sculpts human and animal figures, and then adds illustrations in glaze. The paintings diffuse into the clay’s surface, like tattoos on his sculptures’ skin. Taken together, the two- and three-dimensional elements of his work establish a compacted but powerful scene of emotions and narratives. “
Isupov work added to ASU Museum
New Sergei Isupov work added to the collection June 26, 2014 at 9:42 pm The ASU Art Museum is thrilled to add its first Sergei Isupov sculpture into the permanent…
SERGEI ISUPOV in “Body Language” at Albany Airport | Opening Friday
Sergei Isupov in “Body Language” at Albany Airport Presented by Albany International Airport Art & Culture. A group show of eleven artists whose work focuses on the human figure and…
SERGEI ISUPOV | Racine Art Museum | Exhibition and Gallery Talk
Comprised of pieces from RAM’s permanent collection, the work in this solo showreveals the artist’s exploration of the human condition in two-dimensionalnarrative on three-dimensional ceramic forms. Racine Art Museum’s Collection Focus: Sergei Isupov Feb 23–June 8, 2014…
Ferrin Contemporary’s 10 Best of 2013
[one_half content_align=”left”] New Blue and White Museum of Fine Arts, Boston important exhibition of contemporary cross-cultural interchange Robin Best Project Art visiting artist from Jingdezhen, China summer 2013 Animal Stories…
Sergei Isupov in Art News
Doug McClemont reviews solo show of Sergei Isupov’s recent work at Barry Friedman’s gallery in New York in ARTnews, October 2013.
SCENE + SEEN: Summer 2013 | Project Art and Ferrin Gallery
Summer brings ART + ARTISTS from far away places around the world Adelaide, Australia, Jingdezhen, China, Seoul, Korea, to the small village in Cummington, MA, USA on the Eastern edge of the Berkshires, in the heart of the Hilltowns and just west of the Pioneer Valley.
SELECT WORKS BY SERGEI ISUPOV AVAILABLE IN OUR ONLINE SHOP
We are pleased to be launching a new series of digital workshops
through Project Art 01026.com, with Sergei Isupov.
Workshop dates and more information can be found on