KUPOL GALLERY

During a time of self-isolation, we were unable to personally interact with resources that bring inspiration and let your soul get high of excitement. Now the global situation is finally waking up from Covid-19 restrictions, thus we got an honor to make an acquaintance with revolutionary space Kupol Gallery, an ambitious project, launched by collector Olga Shepelskaya and art critic Victoria Mikhopulu.

Let’s see how Russian ladies magically rediscover the talent of staunch defenders of creativity, transferring values of the elite culture to modern grassroots cravings.

The story of Kupol Gallery was born a while ago, since a recognition that lots of genius artists, even despite the fact their masterpieces deeply intertwined Russian culture, are most well-known and esteemed abroad. Victoria Michopulu got flamed with the idea to tell about demiurges in her motherland and cherished this wish all of her student, modern, and art critics years. Three generations of her family collected paintings, furniture, and other art objects around the Earth, so the aesthetic spirit permanently pulsed at home. You probably guess it's hard to keep silent when your heartstrings are pulled and crave to spread the music, so other people hear and get in the same state of excitement.

But which of the artists flamed the most vibrant spark of excitement? The name of this contemporary Russian-born British painter

KUPOL

MOSCOW BASED GALLERY WHICH MAKES ART WORLD ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE

is Yuri Kuper, and he has achieved unbelievable success and recognition in the West. It's hard to imagine the human flesh and blood with such an insatiable curiosity that conquered, tamed so many art styles. Rigorous formal art training has allowed him to vary freely from illusionistic rendering to mixed-media collage. Dare-devil nonchalance, omnipresent mind, and passion to accept any challenge made him a fascinating and inspirational figure for either high and bohemian society or street-stalkers. No wonder that back in 2019, when Kupol Gallery Team, led by an immense wish to refill their gallery collection, visited Kuper’s art studio, they wanted hidden to be marveled anew. And that happened. Hitherto Kuper has exhibited with Serge Sorokko Gallery in San Francisco, Kournikova Gallery in Moscow, Galerie Patrice Trigano in Paris, and others. Thus on 5th June of 2021, there happened a solemn comeback. The Academy of Fine Arts of Florence reopened its doors to visitors to the Sfumato exhibition, whose work was suspended for 3 months due to the epidemiological situation in Italy. With the participation of the Kupol Gallery Team, there were presented - paintings, books, and video installations of scenography for the cycle of theatrical performances "Metamorphoses". They reflected the connection of contemporary Russian art with Russian cultural identity, spiritual traditions, and biblical stories. The Italian public, the artistic community, and the media were delighted, which is not surprising because the art of Yuri Kuper as a painter and set designer is deeply in tune with our era. It reveals the inner essence of simple things and familiar phenomena, reveals general philosophical laws in them, speaks of the unity of the world. The inspirational Italian stir around Kuper’s talent led Kupol Gallery Team to organize even the most ambitious and pampered exhibition, which will prolong the anniversary exhibition tour. At the end of October 2020, the exhibition "My Theater" was held at the National Museum of the Chechen Republic. It was timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the artist and included a series of works created by Kuper for theater and theatrical performances.

Throughout his life, the artist was fascinated by the search for a new theatrical language. He developed the idea of scenography, his own special space, which became the philosophy of life. Yuri Kuper models the future performance, dictating certain laws to it in turn. We see all this in the scenes of large-scale theatrical performances of the opera by J. Bizet such as “Carmen” , "Eugene Onegin", at the Samara Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (stage director – Vladimir Petrov). It is impossible not to mention the work

of Yuri Kuper on the opera “Boris Godunov” staged by A. Sokurov for the Bolshoi Theater. Refined decorations and a relief backdrop create the depth of the stage space, giving the feeling of an airy perspective like the artist himself noted – the tapestry turned out to be almost “architectural”. The light was truly a miracle of the technique of this performance. Unique devices were purchased specially for the production, which provided a volumetric video projection.

Worth mentioning the embossed curtain for the performance with absolutely naturalistic steppe grasses swaying in the wind against the background of a stormy sky, along which low clouds are slowly floating, represented by moving volumetric projections of a thickening haze, deserves a separate mention. The curtain seems to be multi-layered, and behind the tall grasses on the netting, the forest, depicted on the second level with the sky, is almost invisible.

Afterward, it was impossible to stop representing masterpieces that deserved to be relieved over and over again. So the jubilee project “And I Preach Stones...” which became the final part of the cycle of anniversary projects by Yuri Kuper, was solemnly opened in the exhibition halls of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In addition to paintings, the audience сontemplated unique books with the author lithography and hand-made work in exquisite relief bindings: the Old Testament Book of Job and the famous creation of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

That is why the Kupol Gallery in the very center of the capital, which promotes young artists, decided to focus on the work of Yuri Kuper. The bright conceptual space attracts not only art collectors and aesthetes, but also creative youth that enthusiastically turn installations and paintings into a part of digital photography and TikTok videos.

To harmonize the vibrant exhibitions, full of animalistic sculptures and frozen-in-motion abstract creatures, Olga Shepelskaya and Victoria Mikhopulu represented many of Kuper’s canvases feature common objects – a spoon, a table, or a brush – attached to them, splattered with paint and seeming to float in a gray void. Artist himself says: “The painting has to hypnotize, in the same way that the surface of the contemplated object hypnotized the painter. Kupol Gallerie guests were in awe from the sincere attitude to objects that help create masterpieces but always stay in the shadow of fame.

Same thing about the canvas. Yuri Kuper used to say that no artist can compete with Mother Nature. The most beautiful things were already created, and our mission is to keep them alive.

At the exhibition “Growing from the Surface”, the image of a flower becomes a characteristic element of the composition. The artist paints flowers and grayish as if frozen in space and time, depicting from singles or grouping them into bouquets. To create his paintings, Kuper uses antique wooden surfaces, the texture of which itself suggests contours, strokes, and scale. Haze images give the image a mysticism as if we are looking at a world that wants to escape from an inquisitive gaze. But that's just the beginning before you meet with Yuri Kuper. Stay tuned.