Universe 2013

Ilya Isupov’s ‘Universe’ is a drawing that seems to have been made with colored pencil. It is really cool how Ilya builds this piece like a weird machine, or a kind of movie screen, where the individual frames show a progression of different images. The piece reminds me a bit of medieval tapestries and illuminated manuscripts, where the composition is kind of stacked, so you don't really know where to look first. I love that effect! The surface is built up with layered marks, and it feels like Ilya is thinking through the process of artmaking, not just the final product. Take a look at the grey smoke billowing out of the left side. It is almost a monochromatic study in texture, with soft lines and hazy edges which perfectly contrast the geometric shapes of the frame. For me, this captures the sense of building something, but also letting things be kind of unresolved. Maybe like a Joseph Beuys thing, or a little bit Guston-esque? I’m not sure, but I do really like it.