Daum Museum of Contemporary Art to host Androgyny: New Work by Sergei Isupov

Written by Dana M. Kelchner Tuesday, 20 March 2012 21:08

SEDALIA, MISSOURI - The Daum Museum of Contemporary Art on the State Fair Community College campus will present the exhibition Androgyny: New Work by Sergei Isupov from Oct. 3rd through Dec. 6th, 2009. Isupov, a native of Russia, is internationally renowned as a technically accomplished ceramic sculptor. The exhibition will feature his latest body of work, including 14 large-scale painted and sculpted heads and related drawings. The facial expressions on each of the colorful pieces reveal individual character traits. The heads, about three feet high, also feature small, hand-painted vignettes, as well as hidden surrealist and dream-like vignettes on the bottoms of every piece.

Isupov, 46, also will lead a free, public two-day workshop Nov. 2-3 on campus. Participants can learn first-hand about his art and art-making processes, including an in-depth look at the construction and painting techniques he uses. For workshop details, call the museum at (660) 530-5888.

Isupov moved to the United States in 1993 and lives in a village on the edge of the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. His artwork reflects influences absorbed in both Europe and America, including the example of family artists; Soviet-era art schools, first in Kiev and later in Estonia; and his experience of the United States.

He has lectured and participated in residencies and workshops at more than 40 institutions worldwide, including the Renwick Museum, the Archie Bray Foundation and the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as programs in Norway, Australia, China, and Estonia.

His work is found in numerous public collections, among them the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Museum of Art + Design in New York and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, as well as the National Gallery of Australia, the Norwegian Museum of Art, and the Museum of International Ceramics in Hungary. He received the Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award in 2001.

Androgyny: New Work by Sergei Isupov was organized by Mesa Contemporary Arts Center in partnership with the Ferrin Gallery in Massachusetts. Presentation in Sedalia is made possible in part by Ditzfeld Transfer, Inc. The Daum Museum of Contemporary Art Endowment, State Fair Community College and the SFCC Foundation support all museum programs.

The museum also will feature a mid-career retrospective for New York City artist Elana Herzog entitled Elana Herzog: Dewarped & Unweft  Oct. 3 through Dec. 13. The exhibition will review Herzog’s mixed media sculptures and installations with 18 works dating from 1993 to the present. Highlighting the survey will be a site-specific installation created for the museum. Herzog’s art is centered on site-specific installations that use found materials associated with every day domestic life. Among her media are bedding, carpet, vinyl siding, shower curtains and drapery fabric.

Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays. Admission is free. For more information, call (660) 530-5888 or visit the Web site at :  www.daummuseum.org.