Isupov comes from an artistic family: his mother, Nelli Isupova, is a renowned ceramist, and his father, Volodymyr Isupov, was a monumental artist and graphic artist. From childhood, Illia was immersed in the atmosphere of the studio, which laid the foundation for his multifaceted approach to creativity.
In 1988, Isupov graduated from the Taras Shevchenko State Art School in Kyiv, where he studied drawing, painting, and composition under the guidance of Oleh Zhyvotkov. In 1989, the young artist began participating in republican exhibitions of the Union of Artists of the Ukrainian SSR, debuting in official artistic circles.
From the early 1990s, Isupov — as part of the Kyiv squat Paris Commune — combined folk motifs of the lubok, minimalist absurdist narratives, and allusions to comic-book culture in his works. He actively experimented with materials: mixed media, etching, watercolor, paraffin, authorial techniques, video art, and installation all became equal vehicles for his artistic ideas.
A conceptual anchor for Isupov was the rethinking of the traditional image of the Ukrainian icon and of post-Soviet everyday life through the lens of irony and grotesque. According to the artist, his works are born “at the intersection of the mundane and the sacred”, creating the sense of “a world where everything is slightly torn”.
Isupov’s oeuvre constitutes a provocative dialogue with cultural stereotypes, where humor and absurdity serve as instruments of deeper reflection on identity, contemporaneity, and the role of art in everyday life.
The artist has taken part in international group exhibitions: from the Republican Youth Exhibition (1989) to art forums in Berlin, Paris, Moscow, and Kyiv, where he represented Ukrainian postmodernism alongside his peers. His first solo exhibition, This Is Me — Illia, took place in 1991 in Salisbury, United Kingdom, introducing him to an international audience. During his time in London (1991–1993), he expanded his range of techniques and presented his works at the exhibition Moscow in Cambridge in London. Returning to Kyiv in 1993, Isupov immersed himself in active artistic life: collaborating with Illia Chichkan, creating hand-painted shirts for Andriyivskyi Descent, and working with the Karas Gallery, Dymchuk Gallery, and the Soros Center for Contemporary Art at NaUKMA.
Among Isupov’s significant series are: Banana Republic (1995), Science and Life (2002), Pokémon (2006), Columbarium (2009–2010), and Periscope (2016). These and other works shed new light on shared cultural codes and leave a lasting impression on viewers. Each project is pivotal for understanding Isupov’s postmodern perspective on contemporaneity and serves as a vivid marker of the artist’s evolution.
His works are held in private and museum collections in Ukraine, Europe, and the United States. Illia Isupov continues to live and work in Kyiv.