Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA
November 1 – February 18, 2025
FEATURED WORKS
USSR
All Were Once Children
Friendly Fight
Overwork
NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO
Ancestor
Lips, Eyes, Ear, Eyebrows
AVAILABLE ARTWORKS & SERIES
Ceramic sculptures are presented with both a multi-dimensional, mixed-media wall installation and independent pedestal-based works. Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have had exhibitions internationally since 1996. This was the artist’s third solo show in our North Adams gallery location.
Both of Isupov’s 2022 exhibitions include works in porcelain and mixed-media drawings produced at Project Art in Cummington, MA.
Past & Present
Full Moon Addiction
Like An Eternity
Marriage for the Ages
Momentary Darkness
Nature is Within Us
ANDROGYNY
HEADS & BUSTS
Soul of the Planet
Heritage
2009 | “Androgyny: New Work by Sergei Isupov”, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO, October 3 – December 6, 2009
2009 | “Androgyny”, Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ, April 10 – August 2, 2009
2008 | “Androgyny, The Preview, Solo Exhibition: Sculpture, Painting, Drawing”; Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
“My work is about contrasts and relationships. I explore contrasts of human condition with my story lines such as male-female and human-animal relationships, and accompanying emotions of warmth and aggression, love and rejection, and nurture and abandonment. Dynamic and interactive narratives are developed using two and three dimensions at the same time with the sculpted form and painted surface. I use a visual vocabulary and classic tools of design, proportion, perspective and silhouette to both sculpt and paint. Eyes show emotional relationships. Facial and figural gestures develop personalities. Illusionary objects and perspectives suggest motion. As a viewer moves around the work, they see each angle and focus point leading to new chapters and story lines. Combined, these clues tell an overall story.”
Busker
Chosen One
Guardian
Horsepower
Man
Midnight Son
FIGURAL SCULPTURE
“Art is a life style for me. Everything that surrounds and excites me is automatically processed and transformed into the final result: an artwork. It is fascinating to watch the transitions from life to art. The essence of my work is not in the medium or the creative process, but the in 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.
I find ceramic to be the most versatile material and it is well suited to the expression of my ideas. I consider sculpture to be a canvas for my paintings. All plastic, graphic and painting elements of the piece function as complementary parts of the work.
In this series of two-legged figures, Statuettes, the form is classical but the characters are comical. I like the contrast of serious to humorous – the front is cartoon like but the back of each figure features an intimate painting of the being’s spirit.
While each one expresses an individual personality or character, as a group, they become a population, inhabitants of my imaginary world or visitors from my imagination.”
Hidden Messages
Game Changer
Puppeteer
Silver Anniversary
HUMANIMALS
Humanimals, transform anthropomorphic sculptures that explore human relationships by blending the expression and gesture of the combined species.
A sculptural surrealist, Isupov first created works in the Humanimal Series around 2011, with a set of “standing figures” (animal/human hybrids) and “riders” (animal figures on animal/human hybrids)
In 2015 Isupov returned to his iconic form of the Humanimal, a series of standing oversized figurines. New groups and works emerge as the artist delves into the right form for each of his concepts. Close Your Eyes Open Your Eyes, Burden II, Butterfly Catcher, Life’s Work, and Strong hail from multiple eras in the artist’s exploration of the series.
“The animal faces and features represent the beast or natural animal instincts that are often in conflict with reason and intellect.
The hand represents the hand of a human or god – both a comforting support for humanity and a force of opposition or challenge to animal instincts.
The two sculptures explore these ideas of opposing forces of nature and humanity, man and beast, integral and constant throughout life. There is nothing literal intended in the choice of imagery or narrative. The images and expressions are of male/female/animal – symbolic, metaphoric, and intended to provide for individual interpretation. ”
Close Your Eyes, Open Your Eyes
Butterfly Catcher
Burden II
Life’s Work
Strong
LARGE WORKS, INSTALLATIONS, & TABLEAUS
Challenged by opportunities to expand his scale, Isupov’s recent exhibition Alliances featured a wall relief sculpture using the carved plywood printing plate (left) and the resulting print (right) bringing together ceramic sculpture, assemblage, and printmaking practices to show the full scope of creative versatility and process. Towering larger than life figures and animated life size tableaus anchor his solo exhibitions in galleries and museums.
Lips Eyes Ear Eyebrow
Woodblock & Print | Installation
Directions
Coffee & Milk
On the Way
PUBLIC ARTWORK
Fire sculptures, public art, engage the public in community based projects. Isupov currently has 3 public works on view along Main Street in Cummington, MA and more around the world.
SERGEI ISUPOV
Sergei Isupov Artist Portrait, 2021, Photo Credit: John Polak
ABOUT
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.
ON HIS WORK
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.
“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.”
ANDROGYNY SERIES
HEADS & BUSTS
2009 | “Androgyny: New Work by Sergei Isupov”, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO, October 3 – December 6, 2009
2009 | “Androgyny”, Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ, April 10 – August 2, 2009
2008 | “Androgyny, The Preview, Solo Exhibition: Sculpture, Painting, Drawing”; Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
FIGURATIVE WORKS
“Art is a life style for me. Everything that surrounds and excites me is automatically processed and transformed into the final result: an artwork. It is fascinating to watch the transitions from life to art. The essence of my work is not in the medium or the creative process, but the in 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.
I find ceramic to be the most versatile material and it is well suited to the expression of my ideas. I consider sculpture to be a canvas for my paintings. All plastic, graphic and painting elements of the piece function as complementary parts of the work.
In this series of two-legged figures, Statuettes, the form is classical but the characters are comical. I like the contrast of serious to humorous – the front is cartoon like but the back of each figure features an intimate painting of the being’s spirit.
While each one expresses an individual personality or character, as a group, they become a population, inhabitants of my imaginary world or visitors from my imagination.”
HUMANIMAL SERIES
Humanimals, transform anthropomorphic sculptures that explore human relationships by blending the expression and gesture of the combined species.
A sculptural surrealist, Isupov first created works in the Humanimal Series around 2011, with a set of “standing figures” (animal/human hybrids) and “riders” (animal figures on animal/human hybrids)
In 2015 Isupov returned to his iconic form of the Humanimal, a series of standing oversized figurines. New groups and works emerge as the artist delves into the right form for each of his concepts. Close Your Eyes Open Your Eyes, Burden II, Butterfly Catcher, Life’s Work, and Strong hail from multiple eras in the artist’s exploration of the series.
“The animal faces and features represent the beast or natural animal instincts that are often in conflict with reason and intellect.
The hand represents the hand of a human or god – both a comforting support for humanity and a force of opposition or challenge to animal instincts.
The two sculptures explore these ideas of opposing forces of nature and humanity, man and beast, integral and constant throughout life. There is nothing literal intended in the choice of imagery or narrative. The images and expressions are of male/female/animal – symbolic, metaphoric, and intended to provide for individual interpretation. ”
FEATURED & PAST EXHIBITIONS
Sergei Isupov, Grouping: “Granger”, “Forester” “Love Story”, & “Family Chess”, 2024, porcelain, slip, glaze, various dimensions, John Polak Photography.
SERGEI ISUPOV: Ancestor
2024 | Solo Exhibition at Anderson Gallery at Bridgewater State University | Bridgewater, MA
November 1 – February 18, 2025
50 Years in the Making: Alumni Exhibition at The Clay Studio, June 13th – September 1st, 2024, featuring Sergei Isupov, Paul Scott, and Lauren Mabry
50 Years in the Making – Alumni Exhibition
2024 | Group Exhibition at The Clay Studio | Philadelphia, PA
featuring work by Paul Scott, Sergei Isupov, and Lauren Mabry
June 13th through Sep 1st, 2024
This Alumni Exhibition showcases artwork to reflect the current practice of the This Alumni Exhibition showcases artwork to reflect the current practice of the over 150 artist who have participated in The Clay Studio’s Resident Artist Program, Guest Artist Program, and Associate Artist Program over the 50 years since its founding.
Kadri Pärnamets, “Fragments of Waves”, 2024, porcelain, slip, glaze
Sergei Isupov & Kadri Pärnamets in CLAYTOPIA Summer Festival | Guldagergaard, Skælskør, Denmark
2024 | Group Exhibition at Claytopia at Guldagergaard | Skælskør, Denmark
featuring work by Sergei Isupov & Kadri Pärnamets
July 10th through August 10th, 2024
Claytopia is Guldagergaard’s initiative geared towards engaging the public, offering a unique space within the beautiful park surrounding Guldagergaard.
Among Claytopia’s activities are outdoor art exhibitions, concerts, discussion salons, and a design boutique.
Ferrin Contemporary presents Paul Scott in “Our America/Whose America?”. Installation for NCECA Richmond, 2024 at the Wickham House at The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA. Image courtesy of The Valentine Museum.
OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA?
2024 | Group Exhibition in the Wickham House at the Valentine Museum | Richmond, VA
February 20, 2024 – April 21, 2024
Our America/Whose America? Is a “call and response” exhibition between contemporary artists and historic ceramic objects.
Ferrin Contemporary “Our America/Whose America?” Dining Room Installation at the Wickham House, Richmond, VA, 2024
Sergei Isupov, “Ancestor”, 2023, oil ink print on paper, 98 x 98″. Photo by John Polak Photography.
ALLIANCES
2024 | Solo Exhibition at Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College | Keene, NH
October 25, 2023 – December 9, 2023
Sergei Isupov’s 22nd Solo Exhibition, Featuring artworks from the artist’s archive and new productions from his studio.
Installation Title Wall, featuring the artist’s tools and drawings from Sergei Isupov’s “Lips, Eyes, Ears, Eyebrows” and works in progress drawing series. Sculptures include “Crazy”, “Duel” (2006), and “Midnight Son” (2009). Photo by John Polak Photography. “SERGEI ISUPOV: Alliances”, Exhibition Installation at Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH, October 25-December 6, 2023.
Ferrin Contemporary | July 15 – September 2, 2023
ARE WE THERE YET?
2023 | Group Exhibition at Ferrin Contemporary | North Adams, MA
October 25, 2023 – December 9, 2023
Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have had exhibitions internationally since 1996, including key exhibitions and monumental installations that display various themes and series, which Isupov builds upon and pulls from to compose new environments and show content.
Isupov’s exhibitions include works in porcelain and mixed-media drawings produced at Project Art in Cummington, MA.
Are We There Yet? 2023, Chris Antemann, Sergei Isupov, Lauren Mabry
Sergei Isupov: Past & Present, 2022, Installation View
PAST & PRESENT
2022 Solo Exhibition | Ferrin Contemporary | North Adams, MA
CURRENT + RECENT EXHIBITIONS
Our America/Whose America?
Ferrin Contemporary at The Wickham House
The Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA
February 20 – April 21, 2024
SERGEI ISUPOV: Alliances
Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College | Keene, NH
October 25 – December 9, 2023
- SERGEI ISUPOV: Alliances
- Sergei Isupov: PROXIMAL DUALITY
- 2022 INTERNATIONAL CERAMIC ART FAIR (ICAF)
- HEY! LE DESSIN
- ART MACAO: Macao International Art Biennale 2021
- ABOUT FACE: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture
- COOL CLAY: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Ceramics | Crocker Art Museum
- COMPOSING FORM | Helen Day Art Center
- SURREAL PROMENADE: Sergei Isupov at Russian Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN
- DIRECTIONS: Sergei Isupov
- ALICE IN WONDERLAND
- SERGEI ISUPOV: Selections from Hidden Messages
- SERGEI ISUPOV: The Rising
- RE—Reanimate, Repair, Mend and Meld
- MENDED WAYS | The Art of Inventive Repair
- SERGEI ISUPOV: Head On
- 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
WORKSHOPS
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
NEWS & FEATURES
What is New in the World of Contemporary Ceramic Art? October 19, 2024 | 10-11:30am EST
SERGEI ISUPOV | Workshop & Demonstration | NOV 8th – 10th, 2024
Sergei Isupov & Kadri Pärnamets in CLAYTOPIA Summer Festival | Guldagergaard, Skælskør, Denmark
Ferrin Contemporary Presents | SERGEI ISUPOV | The Road to Cummington at Project Art
ARE WE THERE YET? Featured in the Berkshire Eagle
Sergei Isupov on Tales of a Red Clay Rambler
Sergei Isupov and family featured in The World
The Clay Studio Presents: Clay & Conversations Online Lectures with Cristina Córdova & Sergei Isupov
Sergei Isupov Interview Featured in the JRA Quarterly Winter 2023
NEW YEAR’S WORKSHOP AT THE CLAY STUDIO: Facial Features with Sergei Isupov
OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA? Featured in the Berkshire Eagle
Making History: Recent Acquisitions from the Permanent Collection
$5.00
DESCRIPTION
- Catalog release: December 1, 2023.
- 15-page, full-color catalog
- Installation Images & Artwork Highlights, All images by John Polak Photography
- Exhibition Essay by Leslie Ferrin, Show Statements & Editorial by Ferrin Contemporary
- Copyright© 2023 and published by Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH
- Design by Erica Pritchett.
Special thanks to co-curators, Paul McMullan, professor at Keene State College and Leslie Ferrin, director, Ferrin Contemporary and for editorial support by Alexandra Jelleberg, associate director, Ferrin Contemporary.
Isupov’s artworks form alliances with one another as they move between media, explore scale, and are presented in curated exhibitions. Recent opportunities to create public works like his fire sculpture production and performances, along with solo exhibitions that show the full scope of Isupov’s creative versatility and process, have led to new works on paper, prints and wall installations combining ceramics with other materials.
FREE ON ISSUU
DESCRIPTION:
-
- Catalog release: November 1, 2022.
- 26-page, full-color catalog
- Installation Images & Artwork Highlights
- Exhibition Release, Show Statements, & Artist Bio-CV
Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present new works from internationally renowned sculptor Sergei Isupov. Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT features new ceramic sculptures presented with both a multi-dimensional, mixed-media wall installation and independent pedestal-based works. Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have been working together and presenting exhibitions internationally since 1996 and this will be the artist’s third solo show in our North Adams gallery location.
Collection Focus: Sergei Isupov at RAM
$5.00
DESCRIPTION:
- Published in 2014 by Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
- Essays and images explore the artist and his place at RAM and in the larger universe of art.
- Captured Imagination: The Enigma of Sergei Isupov by Anthony Stellaccio
- Collection Focus: Sergei Isupov at RAM by Lena Vigna
- A Conversation between Leslie Ferrin and Bruce W. Pepich about Sergei Isupov
28-page, full-color exhibition catalog
SERGEI ISUPOV: ALLIANCES Exhibition Catalog
PURCHASE THE CATALOG HERE SERGEI ISUPOV: ALLIANCES Exhibition Catalog Thorne/Sagendorph Art Gallery Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present new works from internationally renowned sculptor Sergei Isupov. SERGEI ISUPOV: ALLIANCES Isupov's artworks form alliances with one another as they move between media, explore scale, and are presented in curated exhibitions. Recent opportunities to create public worksContinue reading →
The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog
Figuring Space Exhibition Catalog The Clay Studio: Figuring Space Publication Date: January 2023. This catalog features highlights on the artists in the exhibition and includes commentary by Jennifer Zwilling, Curator & Director of Artistic Programs at TCS, and Dr. Kelli Morgan, who are working together to make Figuring Space relevant to our audiences and the art historicalContinue reading →
Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay
Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay Explore the human form in-depth, from concept sketches and armatures to detailed instructions for constructing legs, torso, arms, hands, and head from clay. In Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay, renowned sculptor and instructor Cristina Córdova teaches everything you need to know to replicate the full human figure usingContinue reading →
Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog
Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT Exhibition Catalog Ferrin Contemporary is proud to present new works from internationally renowned sculptor Sergei Isupov. Sergei Isupov: PAST & PRESENT features new ceramic sculptures presented with both a multi-dimensional, mixed-media wall installation and independent pedestal-based works. Isupov and Ferrin Contemporary have been working together and presenting exhibitions internationally sinceContinue reading →
About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Scultpure Catalog
About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture This catalog features a foreword by Director Angie Dodson and two essays: one by Glenn Adamson, an expert in craft, ceramic, and contemporary art, and one by MMFA Curator of Art Jennifer Jankauskas, Ph.D. The exhibition catalog also includes color photography of select works inContinue reading →
RAM COLLECTION FOCUS: Sergei Isupov
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION February 23 - June 8, 2014 Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI A mid-career retrospective for an innovative artist who has pushed the possibilities of clay by combining two-dimensional narrative with three-dimensional ceramic form. Isupov explores the human condition. His vocabulary includes human beings and animals, gender, identity, and relationship issues, autobiography, artContinue reading →
EXPOSED: Heads, Busts, and Nudes figural ceramic sculpture from 1970 to the present
EXPOSED: Heads, Busts, and Nudes figural ceramic sculpture from 1970 to the present Work by 25 contemporary artists “working in clay and for whom the figure has been a rich and enduring motif.” Catalog includes work from the exhibit at Ferrin Contemporary as well as pieces available from private collections and artist studios. Introduction byContinue reading →
Sergei Isupov: 1996-2006
Sergei Isupov, "Ring of Fire", 2004, porcelain, 20 x 10 x 8". Sergei Isupov: 1996-2006 Published in 2006 by Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA This visual survey marks the tenth anniversary of the working relationship between the artist and Ferrin Gallery. Features works from 1996–2006 with short biographical essay and curriculum vitae. Sergei Isupov Catalog 1996-2006Continue reading →
Sergei Isupov: Androgyny
Sergei Isupov, "Say Nothing", 2008, stoneware, stain, glaze, 33 x 16 x 11". Sergei Isupov: Androgyny Published in 2009 by Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa AZ • Essay by Sonya Bekkerman, Senior Vice President, Russian Art, Sotheby’s • Introduction by Patty Haberman, Curator, Mesa Contemporary Arts • Project Summary by Leslie Ferrin, Director, Ferrin GalleryContinue reading →
AVAILABLE FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Inquire to Purchase
.Complacency | 1998 | Porcelain Sculpture | 11 x 18 x 6.5″
Complementary | Print & Sculpture | 2000
Voice from Inside | 1997 | Porcelain Sculpture | 8 x 6 x 4″
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Additional works may be available to acquire, but not listed here.
If interested in lists of all works and series: Send us a message
