The Beauty of Chance

The Akvarel [watercolor] Gallery has opened Volodymyr Isupov’s one man show. Softness, vagueness, reticence, and other watercolor epithets do not apply to his works. Balkan and Crimean landscapes, resort towns, beachfront scenery by Volodymyr Isupov have been painted painstakingly and almost pedantically, radiating blinding and dry clarity. At the same time, the artist rejects another extreme, namely the high-resolution imagery. Emphatically and not without a challenge he leaves his watercolors incomplete, as if deliberately juxtaposing intricate patterns with patches left intact (Germander, Pond With a Reflection). He likes unexpected perspectives. To illustrate, a rather trite view-from-the-window motif in his interpretation makes you look down and not stare into the distance (Siesta, Chestnuts under my Window). Volodymyr Isupov is attracted to the wonderful beauty of chance, resulting from a unique coincidence and a combination of light and shadow (Bridge Across Fontanka).