Kuper Yuri

Born 1940, Moscow, Russia, Lives and works in Moscow, Russia.

His art extolls the shapes of « unopened » things, « it comes from the eye and seaks to the eye », according to Rilke’s beautiful words as regards Rodin. The pictorial space created by Yuri Kuper is original in that the empty spaces are more important than the filled ones, absence is more significant than presence… The world he offers, or rather suggests, never provides a visible resistance, or so little : its architecture is real.

The work reassures us by its tangible presences, delectable, barely masked (make up) when beyond everything an infinite absence threatens us ; one can deeply feel a passion for sensitivity coupled with a desire for rigour ; a patient and untiring quest which is based on the near and the familiar and which, slowly, surely, rises well beyond it . Yuri Kuper tracks down, obstinately and with talent a hidden secret between us and objects, between the joys of seeing, the meanderings of imagination and those of memory. 

Kuper has chosen to live at appearances’ breaking point ; he is forever ready to seize reality by its hair, just when the object is taking off, settling down or escaping ; he hands the world a mirror, his mirror,the real and the unreal side. Which form should be chosen ? Which echo should be capture ? Which shadow should be protected ? Which appearance should be caught fast ? This « artisan » who is totally enamored of things, of their skin and of their flesh, submits the eye’s greed to ascetism ; such a form contains an apple, such a fold conceals a paintbrush of the paintbrush’s  skeleton, another contains the beginning of an easel. Kuper’s world is both a secret and initiatory ; he remains within the realm of transmutation not in length of time or in real space, but within  the fictitious and magical one of the canvas or the object.

Progressively as this art develops during the years which captures dark sources to turn them into subtle and luminous emergences, we see space decomposing itself, the palette becoming lightertoned, and the breadth and flesh of things opening up… Yuri Kuper does not talk alone, he does not talk to the objects either, does not answer it, he attacks it  so that the object will answer him. He beckons us to an awakening, he is master for seeing better ; according to oriental wisdom « everything about us is sleep, reality which only reveals itself when it is lit up by a poetic light ray »…It is with light ray that he enlivens our vision. Always, according to the orientals, man becomes Tathâgata : one of those who has the privilege, hardly won, to have perceived the world in its final reality or unreality, within its absoluteness. Yuri Kuper « the awakened » is the other name given to Buddha.

Alchemist with slow gestures, he is forever tracking down the hidden « truth » which beckons him, only perceived by us throught his agency.

PAINTINGS

Tulipe #2, 2016
Mix media on wood
74,5 x 122 cm

Brush, 2018
Mix media on wood
22 x 17,5 cm

Three brush, 2000
Mix media on wood
38 x 69 cm

Red Brush, 2018
Mix media on wood
29 x 22,5 cm

BOXES

SCULPTURES

Vases aux deux fleurs

2008
Beige celadon ceramic
26 x 37 x 23,5 cm

MUSEUM ET COLLECTIONS

1957-1963

Studies at the Moscow Academy of Art. Illustration of books, realizes watercolors and drawings in Indian ink.

1967

Became a member of the Union of Artists in the USSR.

1970

Produces sets for several shows in Moscow theaters. Exhibition of his graphic work, Graphic Salon of Moscow.

1972

Go to Israel and then return to London the same year. Exhibition at the cultural Center, Jerusalem Andromeda Gallery, Tel Aviv.

1973

Yaddo Artistic Colony Scholarship, Saratoga Springs (USA). Kettles Gallery Exhibition, Cambridge, England.

1974

Publish the autobiographical novel “Holy Fools in Moscow”, New York. Exhibitions, Lietzow Gallery, Berlin; Rizzoli GalleryNew York; Art Contacts Gallery, Paris.

1975

Installs his studio in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, continues his work as a painter, scenographer and illustrator. Exhibition Lietzow Gallery, Berlin.

1978

Galerie Hervé Odermatt, Paris ; FIAC, Grand Palais, Paris.

1980

Galerie Lefèvre, New York.

1981

« Serge Poliakoff-Nicolas de Staël-Yuri Kuper », GalleriHaaken, Oslo.

1982

Galleri Haaken, Oslo.

1983

Galerie Jan Krugier, Genève ; Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris.

1985

Galerie Claude Bernard, New York.

1986

Expositions Hôtel de Ville, Paris ; Galleri Haaken, Oslo ; Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Los Angeles.

1987

Expositions Galerie Epsilon, Bruxelles ; GalerieWetterling, Stockholm.

1988

Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris ; Galerie Rambert, Paris.

1989

Galerie Claude Bernard, New York.

1990

Exposition et édition de lithographies originales Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris. Exposition Galerie Rambert, Paris.

1991

Musée Ueno-no-mori, Japon ; Galerie Yoshii-KiyoharuShirakaba Museum ; Galerie Valois, Paris.

1992

Exposition de peintures, lithographies, aquatintes et d’une tapisserie (pièce unique), Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris. Expositions Galerie de Hesdin, Paris ; Galerie Yoshii, New York ; Galerie Rambert, Paris.

1993

Galerie Yoshii, New York ; Galerie Montaigne, Paris ; Galerie Le Point, Monaco ; Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts, Angleterre.

1993-1994

Première grande rétrospective en France au Musée de Toulon en collaboration avec l’A.D.A.C.

1994

Bowles Sorokko Gallery, Los Angeles ; Galerie Dionne, Paris ; Galerie Vallois, Paris ; Galerie Yoshii, Paris ; Galerie Jan Krugier-Ditessheim, Genève.

1995

Musée Pouchkine, Moscow ; Bowles Sorokko Gallery, Los Angeles et San Francisco.

1996

Exposition Galerie de la Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris.Expositions William Weston Gallery, Londres ; Montpelier Sandelson, Londres ; Claude Bernard Gallery, New York.

1997

Expositions Sorokko Gallery, San Francisco ; Dom Nachekina, Moscow ; Galerie Patrick Cramer, Genève.

1998

Exposition Galerie de la Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris.Expositions Modern Art Gallery, Taïwan ; Sorokko Gallery, San Francisco.

1999

Robert Sandelson Gallery, Londres ; Sainsbury Center for Visulas Arts, Norwich, Angleterre ; Yoshii Gallery, New York.

2000

Exposition et présentation du livre « Estampologia », Librairie Les

Arcades, Paris. Petites scènes d’intérieur, Galerie Minsky, Paris.

2001

Galerie Patrick Cramer, Salon de Mars, Genève et Frankfort.

2002

Exposition Galerie de la Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris.Expositions Franklin Bowles Galleries, New York ; Robert SandelsonGallery, Londres.

2003

Franklin Bowles Galleries, New York ; L.C.A. Galerie, Saint-Petersbourg.

2004

Winter Gallery : Galerie Minsky, Paris ; Franklin BowlesGallery, San Francisco.

2005

Yoshii Gallery, New York. Franklin Bowles Gallery, NY et San Francisco.

2006

La Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris expose des peintures récentesde Yuri Kuper, stand de la MWFAF (Moscow World Fine Art Fair). Exposition Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris ; Sculptures, Galerie Vallois, Paris.

2007

Costumes, décors et scénario pour « Twelwe Paintings in the life of an Artist », dirigée par Vladimir Petrov, Moscow Artistic and Academic Theatre.
Sculptures contemporaines, Galerie Vallois, Paris. Familiar objects, Franklin Bowles Galleries, San Francisco.
La Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris consacre entièrement son stand aux peintures récentes de Yuri Kuper, MWFAF (Moscow World Fine Art Fair).
Décembre : La Bouquinerie de l’Institut édite deux lithographies originales en couleurs sur Arches de Yuri Kuper « Le Bonheur est dans le Pré » (106 x 76 cm) et « Éveil du Printemps » (106 x 76 cm), tirées chacune à 35 exemplaires, numérotées et signées par l’artiste.

2008

La Bouquinerie de l’Institut, Paris présente des peintures récentes de Yuri Kuper, MWFAF (Moscow World Fine Art Fair).

Avril : la Bouquinerie de l’Institut édite deux lithographies originales en couleurs sur Arches, “Hommage à Monet” (106 x 76 cm) et “Libellule” (106 x 76 cm), tirées chacune à 35 exemplaires, numérotées et signées par l’artiste.

Expositions Bouquinerie de l’Institut / Galerie de la Bouquinerie de l’Institut

1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006 (Moscou), 2007 (Moscou), 2008 (Moscou).

MUSEUM

Musée Pouchkine, Moscou
Galerie Tretjakof, Moscou
Uéno Royal Museum, Tokyo
Shirakaba Museum, Japon
Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulterbesitz, Berlin
Ministère de la Culture, Paris
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris
National Gallery, Oslo
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Sainsbury Collection, University of Norwich
École d’Art, Boston
University of Chicago, Northern Illinois
National Library of Congress, Washington
Metropolitan Museum, New York

STAGE SETS AND COSTUMES

Moscow Artistic and Academic Theatre, Moscou
Boris Godunov Opera, Moscou
Théâtre Souremennick, Moscou
Théâtre Mhat, Moscou
Théâtre de Marseille, France
Théâtre des Mathurins, Paris
Théâtre de Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Théâtre Tristan-Bernard, Paris
Théâtre de la Criée, Marseille, France
Théâtre 13, Paris
Maison de la Culture à Bobigny, France
Theatro di Roma, Italie
Theatro La Scala, Milan, Italie
Décors d’une pièce de Tchékov par Nikita Mikhalkov, France
Décors d’une comédie musicale de Duke Ellington, Moscou
Décors pour le Chicago Lyric Opera, pièce dirigée par Robert Altman, Chicago, USA